Arne Slot makes BRAVE decision ahead of gigantic Real Madrid clash

Liverpool face their biggest game of the season on Tuesday as Real Madrid come to town. Arne Slot has made a massive decision ahead of it.

Liverpool got back to winning ways in the Premier League as they beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield. Mo Salah bagged the first - a gift from Villa, admittedly - to score his 250th for the Reds.

Ryan Gravenberch then doubled the lead and saw the game out. A vital three points and an end to a rotten run of form in the Premier League.

Liverpool had lost four on the bounce before that one, of course. Their run in all competitions isn't exactly much better - now just two wins from eight.

What a time, then, to welcome Real Madrid to Anfield. Los Blancos, featuring Trent Alexander-Arnold, will offer up the fiercest test yet and Liverpool's previous defeat to Galatasaray means they need to get something good if they're to seriously challenge for a top-eight spot.

It's a massive one - but that hasn't stopped Arne Slot making a brave decision ahead of it. We'll have to see if it pays off.

Arne Slot's brave decision

Liverpool beat Villa fairly comfortably in the end but Slot didn't take any chances with the result. He only made one substitution across the 90 minutes, taking off Hugo Ekitiké for Florian Wirtz.

Now, Ekitiké did need to come off. Liverpool only have one recognised striker available to face Real Madrid - they couldn't afford to leave him out there longer than absolutely necessary.

But Slot certainly didn't need to keep all the other stars out there for the full 90 minutes. He had Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo, Milos Kerkez, Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha as good options from the bench but didn't put any of them on.

The result is that Salah, Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo all played for the entire 90 minutes despite having options to bring them off.

That's a risk, certainly. We imagine Kerkez will play the full 90 against Real Madrid instead of Robertson, so that one's not too strange but the rest of those stars will almost certainly be asked to face the Spaniards from the start.

Will that come back to bite Liverpool? Yes, they got the three points against Villa but didn't really limit the minutes of anyone except Ekitike.

Tuesday will tell. Liverpool do have a bit of momentum but they won't have the freshest of legs. A brave move from Slot - and one that will be talked about no matter what the result is.

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