Iraola's Liverpool host friend Xabi Alonso's Chelsea in League Cup last 16
Liverpool host Chelsea in the League Cup fourth round on Wednesday (2000 GMT). Andoni Iraola is optimistic about Florian Wirtz, while Szoboszlai and Munoz are doubtful.
Archive image · Photo: Arne Müseler / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola will face his friend Xabi Alonso when Chelsea visit Anfield in the League Cup fourth round on Wednesday night. Alonso, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, returns to Anfield for the first time as Chelsea manager. "He's a very good friend and I wish him all the best, definitely," Iraola said on Tuesday. "But now he's the opposition and we want to beat him – and the same way he will do with us."
Iraola offered positive news on Florian Wirtz, who was forced off during Sunday's 2-0 win over Brighton. "Florian was quite fine and optimistic he would be available," he said. He was less hopeful about Dominik Szoboszlai and Victor Munoz: "I don't want to say no, but I think it's more difficult than Florian."
Liverpool have won four straight games in all competitions and face Arsenal in the Premier League at the weekend, making rotation possible. Iraola nevertheless stressed his ambition in the competition: "I would love to win tomorrow and have the chance to get further in the competition." He added that for Chelsea, a team not playing in Europe this season, the League Cup was also "very important".