Diogo Jota was absent from team training as Liverpool prepared for their Champions League match against Lille on Tuesday.
A full squad minus two players took part at the AXA Training Centre as Liverpool got ready for their seventh European match of the campaign, against Lille.
Though Tuesday’s French opponents at Anfield are on a 21-game unbeaten streak, Arne Slot could see the fixture as an opportunity to rest some players before Saturday’s Anfield clash with Ipswich.
As we have seen so far this season, however, Slot is unlikely to rotate too heavily, with automatic passage to the round of 16 still not mathematically guaranteed.
One man who will miss out is Jota. He was absent from Monday’s team training session due to “a little niggle” he felt against Nottingham Forest, as Slot put it last Friday.
The coach’s comments made Jota’s newest issue seem relatively minor, with the boss saying before the weekend that “it will be a struggle to have him on the pitch maybe on Saturday, but we’re hoping to see him on the pitch in the near future again.”
Of course, got the job done against Brentford without him, but fans were hoping to see the Portuguese back to get some minutes against Lille.
Joe Gomez was the only other senior player missing from training, as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury sustained against West Ham on December 29.
The last we heard from Slot about his fitness was on January 13, when Gomez was still “quite far” away from a return to team training.
Among those who were involved were youngsters Trey Nyoni, Tyler Morton, James McConnell and Jayden Danns.
Rio Ngumoha, who started against Accrington Stanley, was not in attendance. This could have been in part because he is not eligible to play against Lille in the Champions League.
Liverpool would have been required to register Ngumoha as part of List A for the competition as he did not meet the criteria for List B.
While an unlimited number of players born on, or after, January 1, 2003 can be named on List B for the Champions League as late as the night before any fixture, those must have been at the club for an uninterrupted period of two years.
And with Ngumoha having only joined Liverpool from Chelsea in September of 2024, he would instead have needed to take a spot in the 25-man senior squad (List A).
Liverpool squad in training
Goalkeepers: Alisson, Kelleher, Jaros, Davies
Defenders: Van Dijk, Konate, Quansah, Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Tsimikas, Bradley
Midfielders: Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Jones, Endo, Elliott, Morton, McConnell, Nyoni
Forwards: Salah, Gakpo, Nunez, Chiesa, Diaz, Danns
