On the return of the club football next week, Liverpool are going to miss some of their key players. Not only will the Reds be without Alisson and Fabinho, but Sadio Mane and Kostas Tsimikas are also set to miss out on a trip to Madrid as Liverpool faces Atletico on the 3rd matchday of the UEFA Champions League later in this month.
The reason being the strict protocols imposed by the UK government. There are some countries that come under England’s red list for the Covid-19 crisis.
Therefore, players from those countries have to be in quarantine for at least 10 days before appearing for training again.
Alisson Becker and Fabinho will be playing for Brazil when they take on Venezuela and Colombia before hosting Uruguay. On the other hand, Sadio Mane will be representing Senegal and Kostas Tsimikas will be playing for Greece. All these players will be playing for their respective countries in the World Cup qualifiers.
This endangers their return when they make contact again with the rest of the Liverpool squad. Hence, they will have to be in isolation for some days before getting back to training. So Liverpool will be missing the service of their few key players for their Champions League group game against Atletico Madrid.
How could Liverpool line up without Mane, Tsimikas, Alisson and Fabinho against Atletico
Liverpool will face Watford away at Vicarage Road on October 16. They then travel to take on Spanish giants Atletico Madrid on October 19. These two away fixtures are really crucial for The Reds to keep their unbeaten momentum in both the competitions going. They will definitely find it hard and challenging but they have got a solid squad, enough to handle the pressure.
So this is how it is, Mane and Tsimikas could play against Watford and skip the Atletico tie. Whereas Alisson and Fabinho will miss both the ties, against Watford and Atletico Madrid. The possible lineup for Liverpool in the absence of these missing players could be:
Formation: 4-3-3.
Adrian, Andrew Robertson, Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Takumi Minamino, Diogo Jota, Mohammed Salah.
