Liverpool’s sharp start to the Champions League league phase came with a jolt of concern, as Cody Gakpo watched their 2–1 win over Atletico from the stands rather than the pitch.
The in-form Dutchman was not just benched. He was nowhere near the matchday squad, his omission following an absence from Tuesday’s key training session.
Gakpo’s niggle, Liverpool’s headache
Head coach Andoni Iraola later explained the issue. Gakpo finished his previous 90-minute outing with pain in both adductors. Not a tear. Not a clear, defined lay-off. Just enough discomfort to bring everything to a halt.
The staff do not view it as a serious, long-term problem. But it was serious enough for this: no risk, no minutes, no involvement at all against Atletico.
For a player in this kind of form, that stings.
Gakpo has exploded into the new campaign under his new manager. One goal, three assists, and only three games played. He ran the show on Friday night, completing the full 90 minutes and laying on two goals for Alexander Isak in a commanding 2–0 win over Ipswich Town. That performance underlined exactly what Liverpool lose when he is not available: incision, creativity, and a constant threat between the lines.
Then came the adductor issues, and with them, a selection problem Iraola could have done without.
A race against the clock for Fulham
The calendar offers no sympathy. Liverpool are back at it in “two days and a half”, as Iraola pointed out, with Fulham next up at the same venue. Recovery has become the central theme of the week.
Asked whether Gakpo could return in time, Iraola did not dress it up.
“I don’t know [if he will be back for Fulham]. I hope so, but I don’t know. He doesn’t have a proper injury, but he finished with niggles in both of the adductors the other day,” he said on the club’s official channels.
Liverpool had expected to have him available for Atletico. That plan evaporated quickly.
“We expected to have him for today, [but] it hasn’t been possible. It’s not a big thing, but the problem is we play here [again] in two days and a half.”
That turnaround now dictates everything. Iraola spoke openly about the physical toll on his squad, name-checking Bradley and Gakpo as players who need to be assessed, while praising the collective effort that dragged Liverpool past Atletico.
“I think now is a moment of recovery in these two days. Let’s see how Bradley has finished, how Cody is [and] if he can give us some minutes. If not, Rio, Victor, I think today everyone has done a big effort.
“We need to recover, we need to regroup and think because in two days and a half we play again here [against] Fulham, it’s a very important game again for us. So, I hope we can have Cody with us, but I cannot guarantee it.”
Fine margins in a brutal schedule
This is the modern game in sharp focus: a player flying, playing every minute, then suddenly reduced to a doubt by the kind of muscle issue that doesn’t make headlines but can wreck rhythm.
For Liverpool, the equation is simple and ruthless. Push Gakpo and risk turning “niggles” into something far more damaging, or hold him back and go into another key fixture without one of the most influential players of the early season.
With Fulham looming and the schedule already tightening around them, Iraola must decide how much he is willing to gamble on the form – and the fitness – of his new attacking spearhead.
