Arne Slot makes Ibrahima Konate statement as defender misses clash for ‘personal reasons’

Ibrahima Konate was missing from the Liverpool squad to face Marseille in the Champions League on Wednesday night and the Reds boss explained the reason behind his absence

Arne Slot revealed Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate is enduring a “very sad” period after being forced to miss their Champions League encounter with Marseille due to personal circumstances.

The French centre-back didn’t make the trip with the Reds to Marseille, having returned to France to deal with a family issue. Konate was conspicuously absent from their public training session ahead of Wednesday’s crucial European fixture.

While Liverpool had already secured their passage to the knockout stages, victory against Roberto De Zerbi’s outfit would edge them closer to securing direct qualification to the Round of 16, bypassing the play-off round entirely.

With Konate unavailable, Joe Gomez was recalled to the starting XI to partner the Liverpool skipper in defence. Speaking to TNT Sports, Slot explained: “No, first of all for the family matter, why he is not here, it is very sad for him.

“Second of all, we miss him because I mainly played him [and Virgil van Dijk]… Joe is a good replacement but not played much in the one-and-a-half year that I have been here, for obvious reasons.

“But it’s a great game for him, he’s not played a lot, reports the Liverpool Echo.

“He has showed that he can build a great partnership with Virgil, winning the Premier League under Jurgen five years ago now. He’s shown he can be a really good player for us.

Slot decided to give Mohamed Salah an instant return to the starting XI following his recent comeback from Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign.

The 33-year-old was unable to help the Pharaohs claim their first continental trophy since 2010, as they fell to eventual champions Senegal in the semi-finals.

Before jetting off to the tournament in Morocco, tensions between the manager and the Liverpool legend had made front-page news following Salah’s explosive comments after their 3-3 stalemate with Leeds United.

Slot explained: “I think Mo, since I’ve been here is only once not in the squad, that was for the reason I previously explained back then. Since then, he has been in the squad before AFCON.

“The moments when I didn’t play him once or twice, I tried something else.

“Although we want better results than 12 unbeaten, we steadied the ship and now, we sometimes miss chances from all the ball that we have, if there was one player in the history of Liverpool that can show he scores goals, it’s Mo Salah.

“Let’s hope we can keep our balance in terms of not conceding a lot and be able to create as much, then I’m sure Mo is able to score a goal.”