Giovanni Leoni suffered a serious knee injury in his Liverpool debut, leaving him out for a long time. And now, the Reds can use the new UEFA rules to replace him with fellow Italian, Federico Chiesa, on a Champions League team
Liverpool is adding Federico Chiesa to their Champions League team following Giovanni Leoni’s debut injury. The Italian centre-back, who joined the Reds on a £26 million move from Parma this summer, had an impressive first match against Southampton on Tuesday night.
However, the teenager’s night was shortened when he was kicked out after 81 minutes, following a seemingly harmless fight for the ball. After receiving extensive treatment on the side of the pitch, Leoni stretched and Slot admitted after the match that the player was not optimistic about his condition.
Leoni was scanned Wednesday, which confirmed a serious knee injury. Liverpool is currently reluctant to estimate the length of Leoni’s absence, but it is understood that the club’s medical staff are concerned about serious issues for the younger Italians, as originally reported by the Liverpool Echo.
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With young people on the sidelines for a long period of time, Liverpool will take the option to coordinate their Champions League teams. UEFA changed its registration rules the night before this year’s tournament, allowing the club to make one change to their team at the league stage, in response to long-term injuries and illnesses.
If an outfield player faces a minimum of 60 days of absence, the club is currently permitted to bring about exchanges on Matchday 6.
Following discussions in the UEFA Executive Committee, the governing body announced the amendments earlier this month, explaining:
“The reason for adaptation is to ensure that squad lists are not unfairly reduced and that players are protected from additional workload pressures.”
Currently, Leoni is expected to miss most of the campaign, with Liverpool adding cheesa to their team.
Questions were asked when Slot chose to exclude the Italians from their first Champions League selection, and Dutchman admitted that Chiesa was disappointed with the verdict – although he responded aggressively during the training session.
Slot’s choice was essentially forced upon him due to UEFA restrictions and Reds’ transfer deadline activities.
Slots chose to choose Ling Moha over the Italians despite the 17-year-old having to occupy one of Liverpool’s 17 overseas slots, as the 17-year-old joined Liverpool from Chelsea last summer, and so he joined Liverpool from Chelsea at the age of 15, making him the 17-year-old having to occupy one of Liverpool’s 17 overseas slots.
However, as Leoni is currently facing a long spell on the bystander, slots must rely on Lian Grain Bellch, Watalend and Andy Robertson as potential centre-back options, if necessary, beyond the remaining senior trio of Virgil van Dik, Ibrahima Conate and Joe Gomez.
Liverpool will return to European action against Galatasaray on September 30th.
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