Liverpool suffered a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday without several key players, including Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Cody Gakpo and Alexander Isak. Dominik Szoboszlai also missed the game after experiencing hamstring tightness while on international duty.
Speaking after the defeat, Iraola admitted that the short turnaround could make it difficult for injured players to return in time.
“Dom came from the national team with tightness, an overload. We tried to protect him in training, but he was feeling something very small,” the Liverpool boss explained.
He added that playing four games in 10 days, alongside travelling to Austria, would make recovering the injured players particularly challenging.
Although Szoboszlai has not been ruled out completely, Wednesday’s fixture could come too soon, with a possible return against Brentford next weekend looking more realistic.
With Liverpool facing eight matches in the next 28 days, Iraola is unlikely to risk aggravating anyone’s injury. Further updates on Szoboszlai, Isak and the other absentees are expected at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.
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