Why Chiesa was not included in Liverpool squad to face Inter in Champions League

Federico Chiesa was not included in Arne Slot’s 19-man Liverpool squad to take on Inter in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, but the door has been left open for the former Juventus and Fiorentina winger to rejoin the rest of his teammates in San Siro. 

Inter will host the reigning Premier League champions on Tuesday evening for their sixth match of the 2025-26 Champions League campaign. The Nerazzurri are level with PSG, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid for points, and their tally of 12 points is only bettered by the table-topping Arsenal, whose 100% win-record remains intact after five matches. 

Liverpool, meanwhile, have struggled in 2025-26 and have only won one of their last six matches across all competitions. They are coming in off the back of two Premier League draws against newly-promoted sides in Sunderland and Leeds United. 

The headline news from the Liverpool camp was that Mohamed Salah had been left at home following his post-match rant after the Leeds match on Saturday. The Egyptian King accused Liverpool of throwing him under the bus and described their treatment as ‘unacceptable’. 

Salah was not the only player left off the Liverpool squad, which includes only 19 players three of whom are goalkeepers and three of whom are teenagers. 

Chiesa was also left off the Liverpool squad list to take on Inter, and it has since been confirmed that this was due to illness rather than injury. The Italian did not train with the rest of the squad on Monday. 

Some outlets reports this as a bout of flu, while others suggest that Chiesa is struggling with a stomach bug. There is still a possibility, however, that he is declared well enough to rejoin the Liverpool squad in San Siro on Tuesday. 

That would be a similar situation to Christian Pulisic at Milan, who did not initially travel with the Rossoneri squad for their Serie A match away against Torino due to a fever, but has since been given the green light to join his colleagues in time for kick-off.