Rio Ngumoha included but big name left out as Liverpool confirm Champions League squad | OneFootball

Liverpool have submitted their squad for the league phase of the Champions League, with one standout name conspicuous by his absence.

Arne Slot has selected 22 players who can feature for the Reds in Europe until January, outside of those who don’t need to be included in ‘List A’ as defined by UEFA’s criteria.

Each club can name a squad of up to 25 in ‘List A’, with a minimum of eight reserved for ‘locally trained players’, i.e. those trained by that club or another in the same national association for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 (UEFA.com).

Who’s included in Liverpool’s Champions League squad?

The squads for the league phase of the Champions League – for which the draw was made last week – had to be submitted by 11pm last night (UK time) and have now been published on UEFA.com.

The 22 players named in the Liverpool squad are: Alisson Becker, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Freddie Woodman, Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Milos Kerkez, Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Andy Robertson, Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexander Isak, Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitike, Rio Ngumoha.

(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

No place for Chiesa in Liverpool’s Champions League squad

Eight of the Reds’ summer signings are included, with Mamardashvili, Woodman, Kerkez, Leoni, Frimpong, Wirtz, Isak and Ekitike all making the cut. Ngumoha is also named on ‘List A’ as, despite having just turned 17, he doesn’t meet UEFA’s ‘homegrown’ criteria as he only joined LFC last year.

However, the standout omission is Federico Chiesa, the fall guy from the regulations which allow for a maximum of 17 ‘non-homegrown’ players.

While Slot would’ve agonised over who to leave out in order to meet the requirements for his squad, the 27-year-old will nonetheless be gutted to have his opportunities for game-time lessened by not being able to feature in the Champions League until at least February.

The Italian was handed precious few opportunities in his first season at Liverpool but has come off the bench in all three of our Premier League games so far this term, scoring in the closing minutes of the opening night win over Bournemouth.

Our number 14 will be left reliant solely on the top flight and the domestic cups for minutes over the next few months, although he’s already shown in recent weeks that he can make the most of the game-time that’s afforded to him.

Hopefully he can use his Champions League omission as added motivation to break into the squad for the knockout rounds if (as seems likely) the Reds are involved at that stage of the tournament.