Alexander Isak injury: How long will Liverpool striker be sidelined after early Champions League substitution?

The Reds marched to an imperious victory against Frankfurt last night (October 22), putting five goals past the Bundesliga side. Goals came from Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai, while ex-Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike also found the back of the net for Liverpool.

Ekitike started in a front two alongside Isak for the first time, a new tactic from manager Arne Slot that had been hotly-anticipated by fans and pundits alike. It evidently worked to great effect, with Liverpool finding three goals in the first-half, but Isak was subbed off with an injury at half-time.

Slot is now hoping that Isak - who cost the Reds £125m on transfer deadline day - won’t be sidelined for too long.

Speaking after the game, he said: “Let’s hope it’s not that bad, but he had to go off because he felt his groin.

“Many people wanted me to play him more and we had to find the balance and unfortunately today that balance didn’t work out for us perfectly. But let’s hope for the best.

“Today with Alex and Hugo, I brought two players on the pitch who are usually able to score goals. Alex was a few times close but had to go off at half-time, and that’s the difficult balance we are having with him.

“When he came to the club, he had hardly trained. So you bring him step by step forward, and then you feel there must be a moment where he can play twice a week, and the first time we try - he did it with Sweden as well - he has to go off.

“Normally you try to prepare players for once a week football, but if you are Liverpool you play every three days or normally three times in eight days but we’ve been unfortunate this season we have to play three times in seven days.

“We’ve tried to prepare him for that, we were really careful, and he was perfectly fit when he came back from the national team before the [Manchester] United game [last weekend].”