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Arne Slot admits Alisson has a tough act to follow as the Liverpool goalkeeper prepares to make his comeback in Wednesday’s Champions League clash away to Girona.
The Brazilian will return to the starting line-up after two months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. Caoimhin Kelleher has deputised admirably in his absence, but the head coach was always adamant that Alisson would be recalled once he had regained full fitness.
“I think it speaks for itself if you can play with Alisson, who has been so outstanding for this club for so many years and for the Brazil national team,” Slot said.
“It’s definitely nice to have him back available. But if you look at how his replacement did, it is not going to be easy to do it even better. We expect definitely the same or on margins a bit better.
“Caoimhin did so well we can say that we have two very good goalkeepers. Like we have with left wingers (Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo).
“For so many years Alisson has been so outstanding for this club that we are expecting and hoping that he will do the same for us in the upcoming weeks and months.”
The trip to Spain came too soon for striker Diogo Jota, who trained with the squad at Kirkby on Monday as he steps up his recovery.
Federico Chiesa is also absent due to illness, while Tyler Morton, Ibrahima Konate, Kostas Tsimikas and Conor Bradley are out injured.
Alexis Mac Allister serves a one-match ban after collecting three yellow cards in the Champions League so far this season.
Slot believes common sense prevailed with the decision to postpone last Saturday’s Merseyside derby at Goodison and Liverpool’s inactivity at the weekend means he doesn’t feel the need to rest players against Girona.
“I think it was a very good decision to cancel the game for the safety of all the people,” he added.
“If you play a special game like the last one at Goodison Park then it should be played in good circumstances. Now we can play it in good circumstances. It was a good choice from a safety point of view.
“Now everybody is really fit. There is no reason to rotate from the last game and we have three days before the next game. We will start like all the other games with a really good team.”
Liverpool are top of the Champions League with five wins out of five. Securing a top-eight finish would ensure they bypass the two-legged play-off round in February and go straight into the last 16 of this season’s revamped competition.
Slot said: “At the end of the season you can judge in the best possible way whether it’s helpful to end up in the top eight or helpful to end up number one.
“Of course it seems to be really helpful to finish top eight. If you play your starters almost every time, like we have done until now, then you need the results to try to skip the next round. We want to stay in the top eight and we think we still need another win. This is the first chance to get that.”
GO DEEPER
Liverpool showed a rare vulnerability at Newcastle but Slot should not be overly worried
(Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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