Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson is facing six weeks on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury during their 1-0 defeat against Galatasaray on Tuesday evening.
The Brazilian is no stranger to the injury table, something that prompted Liverpool to spend £25million on Georgian shotstopper Giorgi Mamardashvili last summer, but proved another major blow for boss Arne Slot, who also lost new signing Giovanni Leoni for 12 months recently.
The former Valencia No1 made his Champions League debut for the Reds in their Champions League defeat in Istanbul, after he came on for the injured Alisson.
The 33-year-old’s injury means he is expected to miss consecutive international breaks, with upcoming fixtures this month and in November.
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The two-time Premier League winner, who is celebrating his birthday today, will also be forced to watch one of the Reds’ most crucial runs of the season from the sidelines.
This will see him miss vital Premier League fixtures against Chelsea this weekend, Manchester United’s trip to Anfield and a visit to the Etihad to face Manchester City.
Alisson left the field with an injury in the second half of Liverpool's Champions League fixture against Galatasaray and now looks set to miss six weeks
| REUTERSHe will also be absent for the Champions League fixtures against Real Madrid, a fixture with rich recent history, and Eintracht Frankfurt.
In his immediate reaction to the injury, Liverpool boss Arne Slot said: “If my player is on the floor, nine out of 10 times I fear the worst and with the worst I mean that he cannot continue.
“It's never positive if you go off like this. You can be sure he is not playing Saturday.”
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It has been a tumultuous week for Liverpool and Arne Slot
|REUTERS
The news comes amid a tough period for the Merseyside club, who, for just the second time under Slot, have lost consecutive games.
Saturday afternoon saw them fall short against Crystal Palace, courtesy of a late Eddie Nketiah goal
After the game, Slot admitted that the Eagles “deserved to win” and that their Brazilian goalkeeper had “saved” them on multiple occasions.
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“The good thing was that in the other moments, Alisson saved us,” Slot said.
“Palace have a few threats. Set-pieces are one of them, but counterattack and balls in behind are number two and three.
“From all these situations, they’ve created a lot of chances. We were able to create quite a lot against a Palace team, which hardly ever concedes a chance.
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Eddie Nketiah scored the winning goal as Liverpool lost their first game of the season against Crystal Palace last weekend
|REUTERS
“But when you look at the first half, they totally deserved to win. In the second half, it was a much better performance from us. If one team deserved to win, it was Palace.”
Alisson had an equally impressive performance on Tuesday night too, pulling off impressive stops to deny Victor Osimhen a second for the hosts.
On a more positive note for Slot, Hugo Ekitike has been passed fit after he was also brought off with a suspected injury in Turkey.
“I wasn't really thinking that we had an injury, but Hugo felt something," Slot said on the Frenchman’s injury.
“He said he couldn't continue, so we had to take him off.”
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