Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed that Federico Chiesa will be added to the Champions League squad after Giovanni Leoni suffered a season-ending injury
Federico Chiesa will be given a reprieve to Liverpool in the Champions League after Arne Slot confirms Giovanni Leoni has suffered a serious knee injury. Leoni is expected to be on the sidelines for about a year with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, and Liverpool will be able to reassign his place with the Champions League team.
The 18-year-old defender, who joined the club on a £26 million transfer from Palma last month, suffered a devastating injury in Liverpool’s debut against Southampton. The injury lacks the option of central defense where Joe Gomez is the sole senior backup for Virgil van Dik and Ibrahima Conate.
However, this news offers Chiesa a route back to European football this season. He was initially removed from the Reds’ team for competition, but slots confirmed on Friday that the Italian forward will take the place of his compatriots.
“Leoni tore his ACL, so he’ll be out for about a year,” the Liverpool manager said. “You’ve played very well in your new club, New Country, your first game, but there’s nothing positive, but he’s still young, but he’s still years after such a terrible injury.”
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When asked if Chiesa would replace him on the Champions League team, Slot replied.
Chiesa joined Liverpool from Juventus last summer, running a difficult debut campaign where she struggled to make an impact. Liverpool was open to selling wingers in the summer transfer window, but the move never came to fruition and he got off to a more promising start to the 2025/26 campaign.
He scored a crucial late goal considering he was given a 4-2 win over Bournemouth over the opening weekend of the season and was given a start with the Saints in the Carabao Cup and responded with two assists. Chiesa cut the ball for Alexander Isaac’s first Liverpool goal in the first half, setting up the winner of Hugo Ekitique over the top and earning praise from the slot.
“What I always want to see is players who work hard and try to work,” he said after the game. “So I said at halftime. For me, it’s not entirely a coincidence that Federico chose the ball to help with the first (goal).
“And it wasn’t a coincidence that he was Robo (Andy Robertson), a man who made great balls, who knew he had a lot of wins at this club and knew how to play this game.
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