Liverpool players endured a mixed evening during international duty on Thursday, with two suffering surprise defeats.
Luis Diaz played 78 minutes for Colombia who’s unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying was ended by underdogs Bolivia.
Meanwhile, an even bigger shock came at Wembley, with Greece beating England via an injury-time Vangelis Pavlidis winner.
It was a disappointing result for the Three Lions for whom Trent Alexander-Arnold played the full game. Alexander-Arnold received mixed reviews for his performance for England.
In the build up to the game, Kostas Tsimikas praised Alexander-Arnold as he prepared to come up against his Liverpool teammate for the first time as rivals.
But while Tsimikas is an important player for Greece, he was notable by his absence when the team sheets were released, causing some Liverpool fans to no doubt worry about an injury.
Kostas Tsimikas absence explained
Tsimikas has had a decent start to the season with Liverpool. Although the 28-year-old is still very much a back-up to Andy Robertson, he has featured in seven out of 10 games so far.
The latest appearance came during Saturday’s win over Crystal Palace. Although Liverpool supporters weren’t thrilled to see Tsimikas start against Palace, he ultimately did well, having a big hand in Diogo Jota’s winning goal.
That set Kostas up nicely for the international break, with Greece also in good form heading to Wembley.
But having already seen Alexis Mac Allister ruled out of action for Argentina, Liverpool fans would have been worried after seeing Tsimikas left out of the line-up.
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But according to Greek journalist Giannis Chorianopoulos, the problem is not quite so severe.
Taking to X just before the game began, Chorianopoulos reported that Tsimikas’ absence was down to illness, not injury.
“Liverpool LB Kostas Tsimikas is out of Greece vs England due to illness,” confirmed the reporter.
More illness worries for Liverpool
While it is good news that Tsimikas does not have any kind of injury, Liverpool do need to keep an eye on illnesses within the camp.
The left-back is now the third member of the Liverpool squad to have missed a match with poor health over recent weeks.
Darwin Nunez was left out of the recent win over Wolves with a problem, while Caoimhin Kelleher missed Saturday’s match with Palace also through illness.
Kelleher was back for Ireland on Thursday while Nunez has since returned, too.
There’s little doubt Tsimikas will also be back well enough to play by the time Liverpool are next in action again, but hopefully whatever he’s caught hasn’t ended up spreading further in the meantime. Get well soon, Kosti!
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