Liverpool Test Their Rebuilt Backline Against Como Ahead of Premier League Opener
Traveloasisspot.com – The final curtain call on Liverpool’s summer preparation arrives at Anfield on Sunday, 16 August 2026, when Andoni Iraola’s squad faces Como in a closed-door friendly kicking off at 6pm BST. It is a match that carries far more weight than a routine warm-up fixture, because the Premier League season ignites just days later with an away trip to Newcastle, and several key positions remain unsettled.
A Centre-Back Crisis Forces Unusual Decisions
The most pressing concern for Iraola sits between the full-backs. Three separate injury worries in central defence have stripped the squad down to a single fit senior option: captain Virgil van Dijk. That scarcity has prompted an immediate gamble on new signing Jeremy Jacquet, who steps into the starting eleven despite having yet to log a minute of pre-season football.
The £60million arrival from Rennes arrived with questions already attached. His final season at the French club was cut short by a shoulder problem, and since joining Liverpool he has been dealing with an unspecified issue that kept him out of the recent 3-2 loss to Monaco. He has returned to full team training and earns his first competitive appearance of the window against Como.
Iraola’s caution around Jacquet has not gone unanswered in the transfer market. The club moved swiftly to secure Ronald Araujo on loan from Barcelona, adding a Uruguay international who will sit on the bench this evening as cover should anything go wrong at the back.
Injury List Stretches Across Multiple Positions
Beyond the defensive core, Liverpool’s medical room is occupied by a troubling spread of ailments:
Giovanni Leoni remains in recovery from an ACL rupture sustained on his debut exactly twelve months ago. Joe Gomez limped off during last month’s 4-2 victory over Sunderland in the United States, replaced by teenage prospect Ifeanyi Ndukwe; that muscle complaint is expected to cost him the opening weeks of the campaign. Conor Bradley and Hugo Ekitike are longer-term absentees dealing with knee and Achilles problems respectively. Curtis Jones, whose hip injury has coincided with persistent transfer speculation linking him to Inter Milan, returned to training this week after missing the Monaco defeat but will again sit out against Como.
The departure of Ibrahima Konate on a free transfer at contract expiry — he subsequently completed his move to Real Madrid — further thinned an already thin defensive pool. Young signings Ndukwe and Mor Talla Ndiaye, along with Luke Chambers, have all featured in pre-season friendlies as Iraola searches for depth.
World Cup Returnees and the Closed-Door Rehearsal
Victor Munoz and Alexis Mac Allister are back from their post-World Cup rest periods. Both started a behind-closed-doors 70-minute session against Como at Liverpool’s training ground on Sunday, which finished goalless. Munoz has also earned a place on the bench for the Anfield fixture and will be hoping to add minutes as a substitute.
The absence of spectators from that earlier rehearsal means the Como match at Anfield represents the first real test of squad cohesion under match conditions since the international break concluded.
Confirmed Lineup
XI: Alisson; Frimpong, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch; Ngumoha, Wirtz, Gakpo; Isak
Substitutes: Davies, Munoz, Araujo, Nyoni, Koumas, Ndiaye, Wright
Injured / unavailable: Bradley, Leoni, Ekitike, Gomez, Danns
What the Result Means for Sunday’s Fixture
For Iraola, the Como game is less about the scoreline and more about reading body language. A clean sheet from a backline that pairs a debutant with a captain who has carried the defensive burden alone would be encouraging; any further wobble could force last-minute reshuffles before Newcastle. The bench composition — featuring Araujo, Munoz, and Ndiaye — signals that Iraola intends to rotate heavily in the second half, giving fresh legs to positions that have been under strain all summer.
The broader implication is clear: Liverpool enter their first Premier League match of 2026-27 with a squad thinner than ideal at centre-back and midfield, and with several players whose fitness timelines extend well beyond the opening fortnight. The Como friendly offers no points, no league table pressure, but it does offer Iraola his final opportunity to identify who is ready before the season’s first whistle sounds at St James’ Park.
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