Liverpool boss Arne Slot is urging patience as Federico Chiesa works his way back to full fitness following a lengthy layoff.
The Italy international made his first appearance since September during Liverpool’s 2-1 victory over Southampton in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Goals from Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott secured the Reds’ spot in the semi-finals, despite a second-half strike from Cameron Archer.
Federico Chiesa featured for 45 minutes after coming on as a substitute, marking his first outing since the third-round win against West Ham United on September 25.
Slot expressed satisfaction with the £12million signing’s performance but acknowledged that Chiesa is still far from his best.
Having played sparingly since Italy’s European Championships campaign over the summer, the former Juventus forward is focused on regaining full fitness.
“What I saw is what you can expect,” Slot said.
“If a player is out for five or six months, you cannot expect [perfect form]. I saw ups and downs. I saw some really good moments and I saw some moments where I felt like: ‘OK, you can do better than this’.
“For me, that’s completely normal if a player has been out for so long. He plays his first game in five, six months probably.
“I already said before that that makes it also so difficult for me because normally in the pre-season a player gets three, four or five games especially, and then he’s only out for four or five weeks.
“Now he’s out for so long.
“To get him back to his best level is not easy, but it was good to see that he showed some quality already today.
“But it’s the same for him, like for the youngsters, it’s not enough to play at this level. You have to compete with Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo, Lucho Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota.
“But it’s good to see that he’s back and he also had a few good moments in the game.”
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