Gary Lineker claims Slot was right to omit ‘exceptionally talented’ Liverpool ace on Saturday | OneFootball

Gary Lineker agreed with Arne Slot’s decision to exclude one ‘exceptionally talented’ Liverpool player from the starting XI on Saturday night.

There was a recall for most of the Reds’ big guns after sitting out the Carabao Cup defeat to Crystal Palace last week, and the head coach’s much-discussed line-up choices appeared to be vindicated as a 2-0 win over Aston Villa secured our first Premier League points since September.

However, Florian Wirtz had to be content with coming off the bench for Hugo Ekitike in the 77th minute, which was actually the only substitution that Slot made despite LFC taking on Real Madrid just 72 hours later.

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Lineker praises Wirtz but agrees with omission from starting XI

In the latest episode of The Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker was full of praise for Liverpool’s number 7 but agreed with the head coach’s decision to leave him out of the starting XI until the Reds rediscover a prolonged run of good form.

The former Match of the Day host said: “It’d be good for Wirtz to come back into the team when there’s confidence in the squad.

“I think that would be sensible man management at the moment, take him out of the firing line a little bit, and then bring him on. We know how good he is. I mean, Wirtz is a really good player, and you don’t buy these players for the first three months. You buy them for years ahead.

“He’s an exceptionally talented young player. We’ve watched so much of him over the last year or two at different places, whether it’s for the national team or when he was at Bayer Leverkusen, and he’s so gifted.

“It will come good for him as long as he’s mentally strong enough to deal with the situation at the moment, because it won’t be easy for him. Don’t think he’s not suffering a little bit with this.”

(Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)

Wirtz’s moment will come for Liverpool

Considering how brilliantly the midfield trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai played on Saturday, few would complain if Slot were to opt for continuity against Real Madrid tomorrow night.

It’d mean that Wirtz will probably have to be content with a place on the bench once again, although he’d be a fantastic option to call upon if Liverpool need him to try and change the game in the second half.

The 22-year-old is still trying to get to trips with the physicality of the Premier League, but he’s received the firm backing of Dimitar Berbatov to excel for the Reds, with the ex-Spurs and Manchester United striker speaking candidly about his own initial struggles to adapt to English football.

Having joined LFC for £100m+, the Germany international won’t take kindly to being continuously left out of the starting XI, but his omission from the line-up should hopefully serve as added motivation for him to work even harder behind the scenes and leave Slot with no choice but to start him.

With Liverpool still battling on multiple fronts and facing a busy end to 2025 with 11 more matches before the turn of the year, everyone in the squad will be relied upon to make a valuable contribution.

Even if Wirtz doesn’t start against either Real Madrid or Manchester City over the next week, it probably won’t be much longer before he’s included in the XI. As Lineker suggested, it could be much easier to do so once the Reds get back into a winning rhythm and the scrutiny has lessened somewhat.