Arne Slot explains decision to leave out Alexander Isak against Burnley
The £125m deadline-day signing made his first appearance since last season with Sweden against Kosovo
Alexander Isak will miss Liverpool’s Premier League trip to Burnley after being left out of the squad.
The striker, who completed a British-record £125million move from Newcastle United on deadline day, made his first appearance since the end of last season when he played the final 18 minutes of Sweden’s World Cup qualifying defeat to Kosovo on Monday.
However, the trip to Turf Moor has been deemed too soon for him to feature.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot has named the same starting XI that earned a 1-0 win over Arsenal at Anfield last weekend.
That means a third successive appearance at right-back for Dominik Szoboszlai, while Milos Kerkez continues on the opposite flank.
Ibrahima Konate partners captain Virgil van Dijk in central defence, with Alisson Becker in goal.
In midfield, Alexis Mac Allister lines up alongside Ryan Gravenberch in the double pivot, with Florian Wirtz operating in the number 10 role.
Up front, Hugo Ekitike leads the line, supported by Cody Gakpo on the left and Mohamed Salah on the right.
With Harvey Elliott having joined Aston Villa and Curtis Jones sidelined through injury, Jeremie Frimpong returns to the bench after recovering from a hamstring problem.
He is joined by teenage prospect Trey Nyoni.
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot says Alexander Isak needs more training time before making his debut, after the striker was left out of the squad for the Burnley trip.
“As everybody knew, he didn’t have any team training at Newcastle, then went to the national team [and] only played there for 15 to 20 minutes,” the head coach told Sky Sports.
“We think, with a week where we play three games in seven days, this is the best lead-up for him to be available against Atletico Madrid.
“That’s always difficult to say [how quickly he will be] up to full speed. What I can say is that normally in a pre-season, after one or two weeks you play your first 45 to 60 minutes, you build that up gradually.
“But that you do with proper training sessions during the week, and now we hardly have any proper training sessions with the team because we play, like I just said, three games in seven days.
“So, where would he be? Second or third week of pre-season, I would say, so able to hopefully play during the week 45 minutes or more, but then two days later, as you know, we play Everton again.
“It’s going to be interesting for the performance staff, for us, to get the best out of him at the start but also to keep him available for the end.”
Liverpool: Alisson, Van Dijk, Konate, Kerkez, Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Salah, Gakpo, Ekitike, Gravenberch.
Subs: Mamardashvili, Gomez, Endo, Bradley, Chiesa, Robertson, Frimpong, Nyoni, Ngumoha.
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