Iraola’s Brutal Champions League Call for Liverpool
Andoni Iraola has wasted no time laying down the law at Liverpool. His first Champions League squad tells its own story – and it’s a brutal one for Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo.
Iraola’s First Big Call
Ahead of Liverpool’s European opener against Atletico Madrid on September 9, the new head coach submitted his 25-man List A squad. Chiesa and Endo aren’t on it. Two full internationals, two experienced heads, both left watching from the outside.
This isn’t a clerical oversight. It’s a statement.
UEFA rules cap non-locally trained players at 17 on List A. Iraola has chosen to use those coveted slots on £123 million signing Bradley Barcola, fellow summer arrival Victor Munoz, and even injured forward Hugo Ekitike. Chiesa and Endo, by contrast, don’t make the cut.
When a manager is willing to reserve a place for an injured attacker but not for a near-return Chiesa, the hierarchy is clear.
Carragher: “They’re Never Going to Kick a Ball”
The decision has already sparked debate. Speaking on The Overlap, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher didn’t sugarcoat his view of where the pair now stand.
“Liverpool have got two players in the squad who are never going to play,” he said. “And there are all these quotas, you can only have 17 players and all that. They have got Chiesa and Endo. It’s like they are never going to kick a ball.”
Carragher reserved his sharpest criticism for the club’s handling of Endo.
“Endo should have been moved on,” he added. “He has done great, a bit of a cult hero.”
It cuts to the heart of the issue: sentiment versus strategy. Iraola, clearly, is siding with the latter.
Marginalised on Merseyside
Both players are tied down long term – Endo until 2027, Chiesa until 2028 – but their roles have shrunk to the fringes.
Endo’s influence already faded last season. The midfielder managed just eight Premier League appearances and only one outing in the Champions League. For a player once seen as a steadying presence, that drop-off was stark.
Chiesa’s Liverpool story has barely had a chance to gather momentum. Fitness problems have chopped it to pieces. At 28, he should be at his peak, yet he remains stuck on the periphery, currently sidelined with a muscle injury. The club do not consider it a long-term issue, but the decision-making around him tells a different tale.
Iraola has registered long-term absentees like Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni in his Champions League squad ahead of Chiesa. That choice underlines just how far the Italian has slipped down the pecking order.
Europe Without Them
Liverpool face Ipswich Town on Friday before the focus turns to Europe and the visit of Atletico Madrid to Anfield. That clash launches a demanding league phase campaign, with daunting away trips to Inter and Fenerbahce already looming.
Chiesa and Endo will watch it unfold from a distance.
Barring a significant injury crisis that forces a permitted change to the List A squad later in the competition, their European season is effectively over before it begins. Their immediate futures lie in the domestic cups, where rotation and rest might finally open a door.
For now, Iraola has drawn a hard line. The question is simple: do Chiesa and Endo find a way back into his plans, or does this Champions League snub mark the beginning of the end for their Liverpool careers?
