Why Liverpool have cancelled Champions League press conference

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Evening Standard

·21 de outubro de 2025

Why Liverpool have cancelled Champions League press conference

A last-minute issue means the pre-match briefing will not take place as planned before the Reds’ visit to Eintracht Frankfurt

Liverpool have cancelled a press conference on the eve of Wednesday’s Champions League encounter with Eintracht Frankfurt at the last minute.

Vídeos OneFootball

Arne Slot and member of the Reds’ squad, expected to be midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai, were due to speak to the media at Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park from 6:30pm BST on Tuesday evening to preview the team’s third European match of the campaign.

It is set to be an important match for the defending Premier League champions, who are looking to get their season back on track by ending a four-game losing streak in all competitions.

But in a disruption to Liverpool’s preparations, the club released a statement shortly before 6pm to announce that the pre-match briefing “will now not be able to take place”.

The reason given was “a delay in the Reds squad's scheduled flight out to Frankfurt, due to technical issues with the aircraft”.

According to local media, the squad were still at Liverpool John Lennon Airport as of the scheduled press conference time. Reporters in Germany, meanwhile, had already arrived at Frankfurt’s stadium.

By 7:05pm BST, journalist James Pearce of The Athletic posted on X that the team’s plane had been given the green light to take off from the airport in Liverpool after a delay of “around three hours”.

“[It] means LFC squad will be able to land in Frankfurt tonight - local airport shuts at 10pm UK time,” he added.

The flight eventually took off shortly after 7:40pm, the Liverpool Echo reported.

There now may not be an update on the fitness of several key players including Ryan Gravenberch, who was withdrawn early in the second half of Sunday’s shock home loss to Manchester United with an ankle injury which Slot confirmed post-match would have to be assessed ahead of the Frankfurt trip.

The Dutch midfielder was then absent from Liverpool’s open training session that took place at the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday, featuring 22 players.

One man who was involved in that training session was Wataru Endo, whose return from injury offers a boost to the Reds in case Gravenberch is ruled out.

First-choice goalkeeper Alisson will definitely miss out on Wednesday’s match as he recovers from a hamstring injury, meaning there’ll be another start for Giorgi Mamardashvili, while Alexis Mac Allister is expected to be fit for selection despite taking a blow to the head against United at the weekend.

The club have not yet formally announced their travelling squad for the midweek fixture, however.