Arne Slot confirmed on Tuesday evening that one of his Liverpool players had to be replaced due to an injury.
The Reds took a huge step towards the top in the Champions League group stages after beating in-form French club Lille 2-1 at Anfield.
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for the Reds with a trademark finish in the first half, breaking free from the defense after being superbly played through by Curtis Jones.
Lille, who were reduced to ten men after Aissa Mandi was shown a second yellow card for his late challenge on Luis Diaz, grabbed a shock equalizer just after the hour, restoring hope to the French side, who had gone 21 games unbeaten on the road to the clash on Merseyside.
But thanks to a bit of luck, Harvey Elliott's deflected shot just five minutes later put Liverpool back in front, taking their Champions League points tally to 21 after seven games in the group stage.
However, Slot revealed that Jones had to be substituted at half-time after struggling with an injury in the first half, joining Joe Gomez and Diogo Jota on Liverpool's list of currently sidelined players.
“Yes, the idea was to bring Dom along [Szoboszlai] off and Ryan [Gravenberch] off at half-time, but unfortunately Curtis couldn't continue, so Dom stayed a little longer,” he said.
'There was a moment in the match [when] he said, “Let's play five more minutes and see how it goes.” But he said he had to come out at halftime.
Slot further noted that the win against Lille was vital in the Reds' hopes of finishing in the top eight of the Champions League and securing automatic qualification for the round of 16. That's why he wanted to field a strong eleventh.
However, Jones' injury forced his hand to give more minutes to other midfielders.
“We wanted to win this match, but we were also aware that we had to manage the burden,” Slot added.
'We would have been really unlucky if we had lost twice and still not been in the top eight. As we know now, I think 18 points would have been enough to play in the top eight. But with 21 there is no discussion.'
He further revealed that he planned to play the full 90 minutes against Conor Bradley, who returned to the starting line-up after some time away due to injury.
Bradley was taken off the field in the 86th minute for Trent Alexander-Arnold, which Slot said was purely a precaution as Liverpool prepare for a busy schedule ahead.
“Conor, the idea was to play 90, but in the end you saw it getting harder and harder for him in terms of load,” he said.
“So you don't want to run the risk of him getting injured in the last few minutes, like against him.”
The Dutchman's team still has two games to play this month and another seven in February alone.
They will continue to compete in all four competitions as they chase silverware and look to cap off a fairytale first year on Merseyside for Slot.
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