Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker has said football’s governing bodies must begin consulting players ahead of the Champions League’s new format that sees the introduction of an expanded league phase.
Each team will play a total of eight games before the Champions League knockout stages — two more than in previous years — in what promises to be the longest-season ever with FIFA’s new Club World Cup scheduled to be played next summer.
“Sometimes nobody asks the players what they think about adding more games,” Alisson said. “Maybe our opinion doesn’t matter, but everybody knows what we think about having more games. Everybody’s tired of that.”
“So many players have spoken already about it, we just need to be listened to,” he added. “If you are tired you cannot compete at a high level. What I want is to give my best in all the games I play.
“At the moment it doesn’t look like we are close to a solution for football’s sake and for the players’ sake.”
Previous Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp was infamously criticial of football’s increasingly congested schedule, however his successor at Anfield, Arne Slot, was less scathing.
“The only thing I like about it just as someone who loves to see football is that on every night there is a nice fixture,” he said.
“But how is it going to be with two extra games for the players? That’s something we have to find out but I don’t think anyone has the answer at the moment.”
Liverpool face an away trip to AC Milan on Tuesday in their first game of the Champions League league phase.