Champions League: Eintracht Frankfurt v Liverpool, Wednesday, 8pm – Live on RTÉ 2, TNT Sports 1 & Premier Sports 1
Liverpool’s problems have extended to preparations for their Champions League match at Eintracht Frankfurt after their flight to Germany was delayed by almost four hours by technical difficulties with the plane.
Arne Slot and his squad were scheduled to depart Liverpool John Lennon airport at 4pm on Tuesday having completed a prematch training session at the club’s base.
However, their flight did not take off until 7.51pm after several delays and Liverpool’s players, who are seeking to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat on Wednesday, were left waiting in a private terminal at the airport throughout that time.
The plane did at least depart in time to arrive at Frankfurt airport before it closed at 11pm (10pm Irish time), but the lateness of their departure forced Liverpool to cancel their prematch press conference featuring Slot and Dominik Szoboszlai.
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A club statement released 40 minutes before the press conference was scheduled to start confirmed: “Our prematch press conference for the clash with Eintracht Frankfurt has been cancelled. A delay in the squad’s scheduled flight out to Frankfurt, due to technical issues with the aircraft, means the briefing will now not be able to take place.”
Technically Liverpool were in breach of Uefa regulations by not hosting a press conference but the club are unlikely to be fined because the delay was beyond their control. Arsenal found themselves in a similar situation in October 2023 when their flight to Lens was delayed by nearly five hours due to adverse weather conditions. Arsenal were not fined on that occasion.
Uefa rules state: “The clubs must arrange for their teams to arrive on-site by the evening before the match concerned at the latest, and in time to fulfil their media obligations the day before the match.”
The disruption to Liverpool’s preparations is another headache for Slot as he aims to halt a damaging run of four consecutive defeats in all competitions. A fifth loss on the run against Eintracht on Wednesday would be Liverpool’s worst run since they endured five defeats in succession in Division One in September 1953.
But the Liverpool head coach insisted: “No, it will not impact the build-up to tomorrow’s game. We have trained over here at the AXA; normally we would have gone to Frankfurt a few hours earlier, now we are a few hours later. That can never be an excuse for the game tomorrow.”
The squad trained at their base in Kirkby at lunchtime ahead of their scheduled trip but midfielder Ryan Gravenberch was absent.
The Dutch international sustained an ankle injury during Sunday’s defeat but was able to complete 62 minutes before being withdrawn as part of a wholesale tactical change by Slot.
Curtis Jones was introduced in his place against United and could play the deep-lying role the Dutchman has excelled in since the start of last season.
It is likely he will start alongside Szoboszlai, who has been shunted around the team to accommodate other players, with the pair behind an attacking front four.
Wataru Endo has returned to training after a hamstring injury but appears unlikely to be considered for Gravenberch’s role in Germany.
Striker Hugo Ekitike looks set to start against the club he left in the summer, along with £100 million signing from Bayer Leverkusen Florian Wirtz, who was also a substitute at the weekend.
Slot’s big decision appears to be whether to rest an out-of-form Mohamed Salah, as he did in their last Champions League match at Galatasaray.
Should he do so, Jeremie Frimpong, another player who was playing in the Bundesliga last season, or Federico Chiesa would come into consideration.
Frankfurt head coach Dino Toppmoller, son of Klaus who was coach of Bayer Leverkusen when they beat Liverpool in the 2002 quarter-finals, played down their opponents’ poor run of form.
“Liverpool are lacking that little bit of energy at the moment, for whatever reason,” he told a press conference.
“They have been the better team in every game they have played recently and have had the better chances. We will face a world-class team.” – Guardian and agencies
