Sport / Football

Liverpool host Villarreal without Szoboszlai and Frimpong

Liverpool will be without Jeremie Frimpong and Dominik Szoboszlai for Villarreal's visit to Anfield on Tuesday. Szoboszlai's thigh injury recurred in the comeback win at Brentford, while Villarreal get Tajon Buchanan back.

Liverpool, England · October 20, 2026

Liverpool's comeback at Brentford came at a price. Dominik Szoboszlai suffered a recurrence of his thigh injury in that win, and both he and Jeremie Frimpong will miss Tuesday's Champions League match against Villarreal at Anfield, the club confirmed on Monday.

Szoboszlai is the heavier loss. He is the midfielder who sets Liverpool's pressing tempo and carries much of their set piece threat, and a recurrence is a more worrying word than an absence. It suggests the thigh problem that has already interrupted his season is not settled, which turns a one match gap into a question about the weeks after it.

Villarreal arrive with better news of their own. Tajon Buchanan returns after three games out, giving the visitors back a direct wide option at exactly the ground where visiting sides usually spend the night defending in numbers. A team that can carry the ball out quickly is a team that can make Anfield's press pay for itself.

None of this makes Liverpool anything other than favourites at home. But the shape of the night changes without two starters, and a side that needed eight frantic minutes to rescue a game at Brentford on Saturday can expect Villarreal to have watched that film closely. The absences frame the match. They do not decide it.