Arne Slot decided to rest some of his key Liverpool stars for their final Champions League game of this stage because they don’t need to secure top spot.
The Reds head coach wanted to give big stars like Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah a rest after seven wins from seven so far in Europe meant they could be afforded such a luxury ahead of tomorrow night’s final game against PSV Eindhoven.
Slot said: “It has taken me a while to understand this new format but I’m now 100 per cent sure it doesn’t matter if you end up first or second because we are guaranteed to play the team that is 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th, and then it’s down to the draw.
“We can’t drop to third. It has no impact on the league table but we will be trying to win. A wise man once said to me he’s never seen anything good come from losing a game.”
Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Luis Diaz, Joe Gomez, Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones were all left at home along with Salah and Van Dijk.
It gives them extra rest ahead of a tricky away trip to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday as the Reds look to maintain their six-point lead at the top of the table. They cannot fall below third in Europe and a point at PSV will secure top spot.
The benefit of being in the top two means they won’t face the second-placed side until the final as well as a place in the last-16 and all their second-leg ties in the knockout stages will be at home.
The clash with the Dutch side could also be a chance for players like Federico Chiesa and Darwin Nunez to push for more minutes in bigger games if they impress.
But Slot said: “They don’t need to prove themselves, we know what their quality is, but we are playing many, many games and the ones we left behind could have played but we need to think long-term.
“If you look back at our season and the players who play all the time we always try to give them a break after three, four or five weeks when it’s the League Cup or FA Cup to help them get their freshness back.”
Slot confirmed those who have not travelled will have Wednesday off while the team faces PSV in Holland. They will train on Thursday and some staff here in Holland will fly back early to run the session ahead of the trip to the Vitality Stadium this weekend.
Kelleher, Jaros, Davies, Bradley, Mabaya, Quansah, Nallo, Robertson, Tsimikas, Norris, Endo, McConnell, Morton, Nyoni, Elliott, Morrison, Nunez, Chiesa, Gakpo, Danns, Kone-Doherty.