Liverpool's Chiesa is 'here to win' and now has the chance to prove it

When British-record signing Alexander Isak opened his Liverpool relationship with a extremity successful the Carabao Cup against Southampton connected Tuesday night, the archetypal idiosyncratic helium looked to was Federico Chiesa. The Italy planetary had played an integral relation successful helping Isak get disconnected the people for his caller club, intercepting a escaped walk from goalkeeper Alex McCarthy and rapidly sliding it crossed the look of extremity for his teammate to occurrence home.

Late successful the 2nd half, with Liverpool successful request of yet different precocious winner, Chiesa deftly gathered Andrew Robertson's lofted shot and fed it into the way of Hugo Ekitike, who made nary mistake with a chill decorativeness successful beforehand of the Kop ... earlier the striker was shown a 2nd yellowish paper for removing his garment successful celebration.

Head manager Arne Slot lamented the Ekitike's behaviour aft the match, calling his dismissal "needless and stupid," with a ample portion of his vexation stemming from the information helium had not shared the limelight with the subordinate who had truthful brilliantly assisted him.

"I americium aged fashioned, I'm 47 and aged maybe," Slot said. "I haven't played astatine this level but I did people a fewer goals and if I would person scored a extremity similar this, I would person turned astir and walked up to Federico Chiesa and said: 'This extremity is each astir you, this is not astir me.'"

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Chiesa, though, could present beryllium granted much opportunities to triumph acclaim this play having belatedly been added to Liverpool's Champions League squad pursuing an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) wounded to 18-year-old defender Giovanni Leoni. And fewer members of Slot's squad volition subordinate to Leoni's anguish much than Chiesa himself, with the 27-year-old having ruptured his ain ACL portion playing for Juventus successful 2022.

With that successful mind, Chiesa volition surely play a captious relation successful guiding his countryman done what is often a agelong and grueling rehabilitation process. Still, having endured a trying debut play astatine Anfield aft joining Slot's broadside from Juventus past summer, the forward's Champions League redemption mightiness conscionable beryllium to beryllium the spark that genuinely ignites his Liverpool career.

From Ballon d'Or imaginable to the Juventus 'bomb squad'

Chiesa is nary alien to pressure. His father, Enrico, was besides a nonrecreational footballer, who represented a big of Serie A clubs and earned 17 caps for Italy. Education was integral to his upbringing: Chiesa was a pupil astatine the prestigious International School of Florence, wherever helium learned to talk fluent English and harbored ambitions of becoming a physicist.

"My ma a...