Federico Chiesa Successfully Added To Champions League Squad

Thank goodness for silver linings.

Young center back Giovanni Leoni suffered a heartbreaking blow in his debut on Tuesday against Southampton, coming off with what has now been confirmed as an ACL injury, prematurely ending his rookie season for Liverpool. Leoni had even been named to the UEFA Champions League squad earlier this month, and was on the bench for the victory over Atletico Madrid last week.

Here’s the silver lining, though. Thanks to the new UEFA amendment to the squad regulations for the Champions League, teams are allowed to replace one player that had been named on their “List A” squads should they suffer long term injuries or illness during the league phase. And after his showing also on Tuesday against Southampton, there was only one man for the job that hadn’t been originally named to that primary list.

Fan favorite and embattled forward, Federico Chiesa.

Arne Slot addressed the change during his press conference on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Premier League match with Crystal Palace, saying that they’ve “looked into this.”

“I cannot tell you exactly where that process is at the moment. That is not something I do myself, there are other people doing this,” Slot explained.

“But if I’m informed correctly, if a player has a longer than two-month injury, you are able to replace him. That’s what they’ve told me and now we have to see if it’s true or not, but other people are looking into that.”

Not long after the press conference was the news made official; UEFA had approved the change to our primary squad and Chiesa would now take Leoni’s place in the Champions League.

Of course, if anyone wants to get nitpicky they can question probably the strategy in replacing a defender with a forward, but considering our plan this season appears to be simply outscoring our opponents, it’s a welcome change.

Liverpool next face Galatasaray in Turkey on Tuesday, September 30, and Chiesa is likely to at least make the bench now.