Federico Chiesa starred in FA Cup tie – can that finally kickstart his Liverpool career?
When Liverpool signed Federico Chiesa towards the end of last summer’s transfer window, it looked for all the world as through the Reds had pulled off yet another marketplace masterclass.
The forward played a starring role in Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph and had scored 47 goals in Serie A, so to land him for an initial £10m (plus £2.5m in add-ons) from Juventus seemed almost too good to be true.
Our new number 14 would be bedded in gently given that he didn’t have a pre-season under his belt, making three appearances in September totalling 78 minutes. He then wasn’t seen in action again until a week before Christmas.
Chiesa’s luck was out for first few months at Liverpool
As a footballer, sometimes you just need a bit of luck to go your way, just like those who play online slot games on https://yummyspins.com/. For much of Chiesa’s first half-season at Liverpool, that commodity was markedly absent.
A combination of conditioning and fitness issues, injury and illness had precluded him from getting on the pitch for almost three months, and he was in and out of the Reds’ matchday squads over the festive period.
When the 27-year-old was named on the bench for the FA Cup tie against Accrington Stanley on Saturday – what seemed like the perfect fixture to hand him just a second start for the Merseyside club, only for an illness during the week to dissuade Arne Slot from starting him – some fans might’ve had a sense that the writing was on the wall for him.
Instead, it turned out to be the match which might just belatedly kickstart Chiesa’s Liverpool career.
Chiesa excels against Accrington
Bringing him on at half-time turned out to be an astute call from the Reds boss. With the visitors 2-0 down at the interval, they needed to be enterprising in order to seek a way back into the tie, which duly left space for the Italian to exploit which mightn’t have been there in the opening 30-45 minutes of the game.
The Euro 2020 winner recorded six shots against Accrington in one half of football, only two fewer than John Doolan’s side managed all afternoon.
Two were deflected into the side netting, one was saved by Billy Crellin but the rebound was tucked home by Jayden Danns, and one cannoned off the post. It looked for all the world as though the frustration would continue for Chiesa.
In an adage which summed up his day and his Liverpool career to date, though, patience paid off for the 27-year-old. In the final minute of normal time, he took aim from 25 yards and placed his shot perfectly into the far corner of the visitors’ net.
The jubilant Italian rightly soaked up the acclaim of the Anfield crowd. The moment for which he’d been waiting half a season had finally arrived, even if Slot tried his hardest to keep a lid on his praise for the number 14 afterwards.
The challenge for Chiesa now is to build upon that all-action outing against Accrington and not let it be a one-off good day at the office. Such is the competition for places in our attack that opportunities might still be limited, but given the heavy fixture load over the next month, he’ll surely get a few more chances to shine…provided, of course, that he doesn’t suffer any further physical setbacks.
It may have been against League Two opposition, but what we saw of the Italy international yesterday suggests that he’s finally ready to take flight at Liverpool and prove that the decision to bring him in last August was indeed a shrewd one from sporting director Richard Hughes.
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