Arne Slot’s hopes of a gentle international break for his Liverpool stars look set to be dashed with Hungary boss Marco Rossi ready to ignore the Dutchman’s pleas and run Dominik Szoboszlai into the ground anyway.
The Reds are currently on a two week hiatus before the business end of the season kicks in, but any thoughts of a quiet few days on the treatment table have been swiftly kicked into touch.
Slot made his feelings clear after Saturday’s defeat at Brighton, openly hoping national team coaches would show some restraint with his players given the gruelling schedule they’ve endured.
“I think the players need a break more than the manager and unfortunately they have to keep on playing,” he told Match of the Day.
“Let’s hope that their national team coaches do understand that at Liverpool a lot of players have played a lot of minutes. Let’s hope that we’ve got national team coaches that will not play them 180 minutes over two games.”
Wishful thinking, Arne.
According to reports coming out of Hungary, Rossi has no intention of wrapping Szoboszlai in cotton wool. The Magyars may only have friendlies against Slovenia and Greece lined up having already blown their World Cup play off chance back in November but that doesn’t mean the skipper gets an early bath.
Rossi sees his captain as indispensable, and Slot’s rotation concerns are unlikely to register much sympathy in Budapest.
It’s not exactly what Liverpool needed with Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter finals looming on Easter weekend, swiftly followed by that mouth watering Champions League rematch with Paris Saint Germain.
Speaking of PSG, the French champions have been causing their own pre European ruckus back home.
Lens have launched a furious broadside after PSG asked to reschedule their Ligue 1 clash on April 11 which falls slap bang between the two legs of their quarter final with Liverpool.
The request, while not unprecedented, has gone down like a lead balloon at the Stade Bollaert Delelis.
“It does indeed appear to us that a troubling sentiment is taking hold: that of a French championship gradually relegated to the status of an adjustment variable at the whim of the European imperatives of some,” Lens fumed in a strongly worded statement.
“A singular conception of sporting equity, the equivalent of which is hard to find in other major continental competitions.”
Lens, who sit just a point behind PSG in the table with the Parisians holding a game in hand, warned that shifting the fixture would leave them with 15 days without competitive action before a punishing run of games every three days.
PSG, for their part, have pointed out that similar schedule tweaks have happened before and insisted the request “in no way calls the league into question”.
Whether the French authorities cave to pressure remains to be seen but either way, Liverpool will be watching closely.
Slot’s men return to action on Easter weekend against City, before heading to Paris for the first leg of their Champions League quarter final four days later. And if PSG get their way with the fixture reshuffle, Luis Enrique’s side could be that little bit fresher for the visit of the Reds.
Not exactly the warm up the Liverpool boss was hoping for.
