Iraola's Bold Decisions: Chiesa and Endo Excluded from Champions League
Andoni Iraola has wasted no time showing whose Liverpool this is.
Before a ball is kicked in the Champions League, the new Reds manager has made two of the most brutal calls of his short Anfield reign, leaving Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo out of his 25-man squad for the 2026-27 campaign.
The decision, confirmed ahead of Liverpool’s European opener against Atletico Madrid on September 9, strips two full internationals of any immediate continental involvement. They will watch the Champions League from afar, while others – including an injured forward – keep their place in the queue.
Numbers, Rules and Ruthlessness
UEFA’s registration rules are unforgiving. Clubs can name a maximum of 17 non-locally trained players on List A. Every spot is gold dust.
Iraola has chosen to spend those places on £123 million signing Bradley Barcola, fellow summer recruit Victor Munoz, and Hugo Ekitike, who is currently sidelined. That left no room for Chiesa or Endo.
It’s not just a paperwork story. It’s a statement.
On The Overlap, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher cut straight to the point about what this means for the pair’s status under Iraola.
“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 didn’t stop there. His sharpest criticism was aimed at the club’s decision to keep Endo this summer.
“Endo should have been moved on,” he added. “He has done great, a bit of a cult hero.”
Cult heroes don’t always survive regime changes.
Contracts on Paper, Uncertain Futures on Grass
On the books, both players are secure. Endo is tied down until 2027, Chiesa until 2028. On the pitch, their grip on meaningful minutes has slipped badly.
Endo’s role already shrank last season. He managed just eight Premier League appearances and only one in the Champions League. For a senior midfielder, that’s not a rotation role. That’s the edge.
Chiesa’s Liverpool story has barely been allowed to start. Fitness problems have stalked him since he arrived, and the 28-year-old is currently out again with a muscle injury. The club does not consider this lay-off long term, yet his omission from the Champions League squad speaks louder than any medical bulletin.
Iraola’s choices underline that. Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni, both long-term absentees, have been registered for Europe. Chiesa, who is closer to returning, has not. That is not an oversight. It is a ranking.
Domestic Duty for a Marginalised Duo
Liverpool face Ipswich Town on Friday in the league before the attention turns to Europe and a high-voltage Anfield night against Atletico Madrid. That clash launches a demanding league-phase schedule featuring testing away trips to Inter and Fenerbahce.
Iraola will go into that run with his chosen core. Chiesa and Endo are not part of it.
For now, their horizons narrow to the domestic cups and whatever league minutes Iraola is prepared to drip-feed them. Only a severe injury crisis would open the door to a permitted squad alteration later in the European campaign.
Until then, two established internationals are reduced to waiting, training, and hoping that this ruthless early verdict is not the final word on their Liverpool careers.
