Liverpool vs Red Star Belgrade: Surprise squad omission on the cards
Liverpool could make a surprise squad omission for their Champions League game against Red Star Belgrade and leave Xherdan Shaqiri behind.
The Telegraph has reported that there are some concerns surrounding taking Shaqiri to Serbia, especially after his celebration after scoring in the World Cup for Switzerland.
According to the newspaper, Reds manager Jurgen Klopp doesn’t want the distraction of the fixture becoming political – which it would do if the attacker was included in the squad.
Serbs don’t like Shaqiri because of his actions during the World Cup. The former Stoke City man was born in Kosovo, a state that has a turbulent relationship with Serbia – who refuse to recognise its independence.
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And so when the Powercube scored, performed his eagle celebration and wore boots with the Kosova flag embroidered into them, this all got a little much for Serbs.
Klopp isn’t worried about the safety of Shaqiri, rather he’d prefer to keep the narrative around football than politics. And that, says the broadsheet, is why the German may chose to leave his player in Merseyside.
But if it’s really about what happens on the field, then surely Klopp must be tempted to pick Shaqiri for the squad. He wasn’t given any minutes on Saturday as Liverpool drew with Arsenal, and so will be fresh and ready to go.
He’s proven this season that he can change games when given the chance, and a fixture against the weakest team in the group would give Klopp the chance to rest and rotate before the next round of Premier League fixtures.
And the German knows the game won’t be easy, saying: “It will be really tough and we have to be ready for that.”
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Being ready for that should include Shaqiri, who has the skill to make sure Liverpool come away from the game with three points.