‘It looks like…’ – Fabrizio Romano update on Leoni injury hints at nightmare news for Liverpool | OneFootball

Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Southampton on Tuesday night was marred by the sight of Giovanni Leoni being stretchered off in the closing minutes at Anfield.

The Italian defender was handed his Reds debut by Arne Slot for the Carabao Cup third round clash and put in an excellent performance before landing awkwardly in the 80th minute, with Milos Kerkez coming off the bench to close out the game.

Arne Slot’s post-match verdict on the body blow didn’t sound overly encouraging, and the teenager now awaits the results of a scan on the knee injury that he suffered last night.

Romano issues injury update on Leoni

In his GIVEMESPORT newsletter, Fabrizio Romano was asked whether he had any further information on top of what the Liverpool head coach had indicated about Leoni’s injury.

The journalist responded: “Not yet, waiting for Liverpool tests. But for sure it looks like not a small injury. Player’s side also waiting for scans and hoping for the best.”

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Fingers crossed that Leoni’s injury isn’t serious

Injury analyst @physioscout on X observed that the ‘knee collapsing in and pivoting nature’ could be ‘suspicious of an ACL injury’, which’d obviously be a nightmare scenario for Leoni after such a promising debut for the Reds.

Federico Chiesa has sent a message of support to his compatriot after that body blow, and the forward could yet be the beneficiary if the teenage defender is sidelined for an extended period and duly removed from Liverpool’s Champions League squad.

There have been several examples of young players at Anfield whose progress was stunted by cruel injury setbacks just as their star was in the ascendancy – Kaide Gordon, Stefan Bajcetic and Calum Scanlon spring to mind.

We can only hope that the scans on Leoni reveal that the damage is minimal and that he’ll soon be back in action for the Reds, although the initial signs aren’t positive.

Fingers crossed that the injury isn’t as severe as it initially appeared and that the 18-year-old’s recovery will be as swift as possible.