Liverpool great Didi Hamann was left perplexed by Arne Slot’s decision to start Alexander Isak against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Tuesday, April 14. The Sweden international was handed a start by Arne Slot in the second leg of the quarter-final as the Reds looked to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.
The Merseyside giants ended up lsoing the second leg also with a 2-0 margin at Anfield with the aggregate score being 4-0. Alexander Isak only managed to last the first 45 minutes and was substituted by Cody Gakpo at half time.
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Isak suffered a broken fibula in December and only made his return from injury earlier this month. He got some minutes from the bench against PSG in the first leg and against Fulham in the Premier League.
Arne Slot claimed that Isak could have played only 45 minutes, which is why he chose to start him rather than bring him from the bench. The Liverpool manager insisted that he would have needed to take him off again if the game went to extra time.
Didi Hamann has admitted that he was puzzled to see half-fit Isak being named in the starting XI against arguably the best team in Europe. He said, as quoted by Metro:
“He hasn’t played for three months and then he comes up against the best team in Europe and suddenly he should play. And Slot doesn’t want to bring him on because he might not be able to play extra time. I have to be completely honest: I had the utmost respect for the man, but I’ve never heard of anything like this. don’t know if something like this has ever happened before. Probably, but not in the Champions League.”
Alexander Isak joined Liverpool in the summer from Newcastle United in a British record transfer fee of £125 million. However, he has only played 859 minutes of football across competitions and has scored thrice.
Jamie Carragher questions Liverpool manager Arne Slot for using Mo Salah from the bench against PSG
Pundit Jamie Carragher questioned Arne Slot’s decision to keep Mohamed Salah on the bench for Liverpool’s UCL quarter-final second leg against PSG. The Reds suffered a 2-0 loss at the Parc des Princes in the first leg and Slot opted to keep Salah on the bench in the second leg.
Carragher claimed that Slot probably wanted to stick with the players who would be at the club next season. He said:
“Is it because he’s already announced he’s leaving? And it’s something like: ‘I’m almost going with the players who are going to be here in the next year’? I don’t know, it’s the only thing I can think of, but even that doesn’t make sense.”
Salah was an unused substitute for Liverpool in their 2-0 defeat at Parc des Princes in the first leg. He came on from the bench in the second leg and looked lively but the Reds suffered another 2-0 defeat.
Edited by Snehanjan Banerjee