Eiraola: We will rely on the starting lineup, and this is the injury situation

Andoni Iraola, Liverpool's manager, has expressed his complete confidence in the duo Bradley Barcola and Florian Wirtz, pointing to their ability to perform well in the upcoming period, given the absence of several attacking players due to injuries.

Iraola said about Barcola and Wirtz in his press conference before the match against LASK in the UEFA Champions League: "They have had good and bad matches this season, but we know their level, and we are confident that they will perform well."

He added regarding his confidence in the players: "The responsibilities for them are the same as those carried by the other key players in the team, and the same goes for performance. Sometimes we should not only focus on the numbers."

Liverpool's manager said: "I was happy with a lot of things that Barcola did in the last match. We got into good positions, but we didn't manage to finish them as we should have. Barcola and Vertz are players I trust 100%".

Regarding the absence of Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo, and Dominik Szoboszlai, Iraola clarified that the team needs to compensate for the goals that the trio has been scoring, stating: "That's true, Cody, Alex, and Dom are among the team's top scorers this season, as they have participated more than others, and now we don't have them, so we need other players to provide the required goal numbers."

He added: "We trust that we have players capable of filling these positions. Injuries have occurred due to commitments with national teams in some cases, while others were injured during the last match. It's about adapting to the circumstances."

Regarding the return of the injured trio, he said: "They are not far from returning, but it is difficult to determine a date at the moment. None of them have trained with the group, and we are taking it day by day, but I don't know when they will be ready."

Regarding the possibility of making changes for tomorrow's match: "It is a game we want to win, and we want to start this competition by achieving the first victory and then the second win. It is always difficult to achieve victories in this tournament, especially with some physical issues, so it will be hard to rely on the same starting lineup as in the last match."

After the recent loss to Manchester City, the coach stated: "We will see. It is up to us, we lost in the end, and we are now trying to understand the reasons. But I was very impressed with the team in the last match, except for the period when we played with ten men. You have to perform much better when playing with ten men, but I was impressed with the spirit, work, and commitment, as well as the attacking players."

The coach also touched on the pressure of matches and the limited time available for training, saying: "We don't have much time for training, so we have to prepare through video clips, tactical work, and some ball drills, but we must prioritize maintaining the players' physical readiness, especially since we are playing four matches in ten days, and we want to keep the players fit and able to compete. However, in cases like Barcola, who recently joined the team, the more he participates, the greater the understanding between him and his teammates, and the better the bonds between them become, and I believe we are heading in the right direction."