With Liverpool failing to click into high gear so far this season, the club’s attacking stars have begun to be talked about by many as part of the problem. Most obviously, the goals simply aren’t coming. Perhaps more worryingly, though, has been a press that looks ineffective when it hasn’t looked indifferent.
There have been two exceptions to that, though. New summer signing Hugo Ekitike has hit the ground running, while Federico Chiesa has emerged as a highly effective option—fuelling plenty of
chatter about a mid-career revival for the Italian once ranked amongst the top young players of his generation.
Chiesa, though, continues to struggle with fitness, a problem for the player ever since an ACL injury in 2022. Having missed out against Galatasaray last week due to a minor knock, he was fit enough for the bench on the weekend against Chelsea—but didn’t play—and was then left out of the Italy squad.
“Federico and I talk every two weeks or so,” Italy manager Gennaro Gattuso said when asked by the press about his decision to leave Chiesa in Liverpool for the international break. “He told me he’s not feeling 100% yet and that needs to be respected. He’ll play for the national team when he reaches top form.”
Gattuso was also asked about having to play Israel in a World Cup Qualifier on Tuesday after UEFA reversed course and backed away from widely reported plans to expel the Middle Eastern nation due to their ongoing invasion of Gaza, which has increasingly drawn global condemnation this year.
“It will be difficult,” Gattuso said. “There will be 5,000 people in the stadium and 10,000 [protesting] outside. I understand it, because it breaks my heart to see so many innocent people and so many children die—but we can’t lose by default. I hope we manage not to let it affect us and focus on the objective.”