Trent Alexander-Arnold is poised to return to the Liverpool matchday squad against Real Madrid on Wednesday night, but Arne Slot has confirmed the defender will not start the Champions League clash.
The 26-year-old has been sidelined since being forced off with a hamstring injury in the first half against Aston Villa on November 9, causing him to miss the 3-2 win over Southampton as well as England's final two Nations League fixtures during the recent international break.
Alexander-Arnold took part in an open training session on Tuesday lunchtime, but won't be ready to start at Anfield. However, he could get some minutes under his belt as a substitute with the weekend's huge fixture at home to Manchester City in mind.
"Trent is in the squad but he will not be available to start," Slot told reporters in his pre-Madrid press conference. "He can maybe make a few minutes, in an ideal world he maybe doesn’t, but if it is really necessary he can make a few minutes tomorrow but he is not going to start."
While Alexander-Arnold is back in contention, Liverpool will once again be without first-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker even though the Brazilian recently returned to individual training.
Slot also confirmed a new injury blow for Kostas Tsimikas, who will lose his ever-present record in the Champions League so far this season as a result, and the fixture comes too soon for Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa to make a return to action.
“Federico is not in the squad yet,” Slot added. “He is training with us, not the whole session, but mostly one or two parts of the session.
“Harvey Elliott is in the team but hasn’t played for a long time competitive football – so, he is there, but of course not ready to start.
“Alisson is not there yet, Diogo is not there yet, Kostas is not there – he is having an injury as well, so it’s quite a list for us as well."
Liverpool go into the game against Madrid top of the league phase standings with a 100 per cent winning record after overcoming AC Milan, Bologna, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen so far.
Meanwhile, there is slight pressure on the holders as they sit some way off the automatic qualification spots as things stand, having already lost twice in the group phase and without an injured Vinicius Jr at Anfield.
