{"id":554152,"date":"2026-03-21T03:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T03:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554152\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T03:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T03:45:09","slug":"arne-slot-confirms-isak-will-be-fit-for-liverpools-trip-to-psg-next-month-liverpool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/554152\/","title":{"rendered":"Arne Slot confirms Isak will be fit for Liverpool\u2019s trip to PSG next month | Liverpool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arne Slot has confirmed Alexander Isak will be available for Liverpool\u2019s Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain as he nears recovery from a fractured leg.<\/p>\n

The \u00a3125m British-record signing has not played since 20 December<\/a> and has yet to resume full training but, in a boost to Liverpool\u2019s prospects of overcoming the European champions, he is on schedule to feature when the teams meet at the Parc des Princes on 8 April. Isak will clearly not be ready to start after almost four months out but will offer Slot an option from the bench.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will be available,\u201d said Slot, who will be without Mohamed Salah and Alisson for Saturday\u2019s early kick-off at Brighton because of muscle injuries. \u201cThe question is what you mean by \u2018ready\u2019. If you want to have the player who played exactly a year ago against us in the Carabao Cup final, and was too good for us on that day, then I would tell you I have my doubts about that after months out. But I expect I can use him for minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cExactly what I get from that I cannot tell you because he hasn\u2019t trained with the team even once. You don\u2019t after one training session play 45 minutes or 90 minutes. If we wanted to arrange a game it would have to be three-v-three because we only have Federico [Chiesa], Curtis [Jones] and Joe [Gomez] available [the rest of the first-team squad are in recovery after Galatasaray]. We have the under-21s team but Alex is not yet ready to play in the international break. If he would have been, he would have been with Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isak needed several months to get up to speed in the autumn having missed pre-season at Newcastle to force his move to Anfield. Nevertheless, Slot believes the 26-year-old can have an impact in the final months of the campaign. \u201cI am just as excited as the fans to have him back because it is fair to say that in 90% of our games we\u2019ve had more chances than the other team,\u201d said Liverpool\u2019s head coach. \u201cIf we had one of the best strikers in the world playing then that would have usually meant that we would have had more points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to downgrade it too much because I think he can have an impact when he is back, but it is more realistic to expect [100%] from him next season than against Manchester City [in the FA Cup] or PSG. I don\u2019t think he is available for Man City, by the way, but we will use him in the upcoming two months that is for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salah was substituted<\/a> against Galatasaray on Wednesday having felt a muscle problem that will keep him out for a few weeks. Slot did not put a timeframe on the forward\u2019s absence but he will miss the Brighton game plus Egypt\u2019s friendlies against Saudi Arabia and Spain during the international break. \u201cHistory has shown he can be back earlier than others because he takes such good care of his body,\u201d said Slot, who admitted Liverpool will have done \u201cclose to nothing\u201d in terms of training between recovering from Galatasaray and kicking off at the Amex Stadium.<\/p>\n

Alisson has not travelled to Brighton, meaning Giorgi Mamardashvili will deputise. Alisson has also pulled out of the Brazil squad for the upcoming international break.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Liverpool have condemned the \u201cvile and abhorrent racist abuse\u201d aimed at Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 after their win over Galatasaray and accused social media companies of allowing racist hatred to spread unchecked.<\/p>\n

Konat\u00e9 has received racist abuse, comments about the recent death of his father and even about Diogo Jota, having been involved in the incident that left Galatasaray striker Victor Osimhen with a fractured arm at Anfield on Wednesday. Liverpool have not only condemned the abuse in the strongest possible terms but widened their criticism to include social media companies who fail to prevent it or take action against it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis behaviour is utterly unacceptable. It is dehumanising, cowardly and rooted in hate,\u201d read a club statement. \u201cOur players are not targets. They are human beings. The abuse that continues to be directed at players, often hidden behind anonymous accounts, is a stain on the game and on the platforms that allow it to persist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWords of condemnation alone are not sufficient. Social media companies must take responsibility and act now. These platforms have the power, the technology and the resources to prevent this abuse, yet too often they fail to do so. Allowing racist hatred to spread unchecked is a choice \u2013 and it is one that continues to harm players, families and communities across the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to offer Ibrahima our full support and will work with the relevant authorities to identify those responsible wherever possible. But the burden cannot keep falling on players and clubs to respond after the damage has already been done. The current situation cannot be allowed to continue. It must be confronted, challenged and eradicated \u2013 not tomorrow, but now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arne Slot has confirmed Alexander Isak will be available for Liverpool\u2019s Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-554152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}