Why Curtis Jones was benched for Liverpool against RB Leipzig as Mo Salah substitution explained

Arne Slot has explained why Curtis Jones was dropped to the Liverpool substitutes’ bench for the Champions League win over RB Leipzig.

Jones delivered a sublime performance to inspire last Sunday’s 2-1 triumph against Chelsea. The midfielder won the penalty for Mo Salah’s opener, had another spot-kick overturned by VAR and then scored the decisive goal in the second half.

After his man-of-the-match display, it came as a surprise that Jones did not feature in Liverpool’s starting line-up for their clash against Leipzig. Alexis Mac Allister was restored to the XI as Darwin Nunez’s 27th-minute strike earned the Reds a 1-0 success to continue their perfect start in the Champions League this term.

Speaking ahead of the win at the Red Bull Arena, Slot said: “For Curtis Jones, I think in everyone’s opinion, he was the best player on the pitch [vs. Chelsea].

“But if you dive a bit deeper into it, he’s only played two games this season from the start and didn’t finish any of the two, so for me it was a bit too early to two days later play him again. And if you have Macca, who is back from being sick, it is, in my opinion, a logical choice to make.”

Slot then added after the Leipzig win: “I said before the game about Curtis Jones that he hasn’t played 90 minutes yet, he only played two times 75 or 85 minutes, he is not used to playing two games so fast in a row.”

Meanwhile, Mo Salah was substituted just after the hour mark. The winger had assisted Nunez’s match-winner and cut somewhat of a frustrated figure when he was replaced by Luis Diaz. With a seismic Premier League clash against Arsenal coming up on Sunday, Slot admitted he needs to manage Salah’s minutes.

He said: “We have some injuries now so I have to take good care of the players that have played a lot and Mo is one of them and on Sunday, a big game is coming up again. So, I need to use as many players as I can use for these next tough weeks and these tough months that are coming up, so that they are all prepared to play.”