Cody Gakpo has reacted to Alexander Isak scoring his first Liverpool goal and Giovanni Leoni suffering an ACL injury ahead of the Reds’ trip to Crystal Palace this weekend.

The Liverpool forward sent a heartfelt message to team-mate Giovanni Leoni after the teenager was struck down by a serious ACL injury. The Italian defender impressed on his Reds debut against Southampton in midweek, only to be injured after landing awkwardly late in the second half.

Leoni was stretchered off the pitch, and it has since been confirmed that he has suffered an ACL injury. Liverpool manager Arne Slot admitted at his pre-match press conference on Friday that the young defender faces up to a year on the sidelines.

Leoni took to social media on Thursday to thank the Liverpool fanbase for their support following his injury. Several of his team-mates also offered their own messages of encouragement to the promising defender.

The Reds return to action on Saturday evening as they travel to face Crystal Palace. Ahead of the match, Gakpo shared how the Liverpool squad plan to support Leoni through his lengthy injury lay-off.

“It’s always sad to see that something like that happens,” Gakpo said. “We will try to be there for him as much as we can and to help him through this difficult period.”

Leoni was one of ten new signings at Liverpool this summer as the club embarked on a £450 million spending spree. Breaking the British transfer record twice to sign Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, the latter opened his account for Liverpool last time out against Southampton.

Having seen Isak regularly torment Liverpool in the past while playing for Newcastle United, Gakpo is delighted to now call the striker a team-mate. He also made a positive prediction for the impact of Liverpool’s record signing following his first goal for the club.

“That’s obviously massive for him, as well as for us,” Gakpo told the club website. “I think everybody knows how good he can be. We saw him in the Newcastle team scoring a lot of goals and hopefully he can do that for us as well. A very good player on the ball, off the ball. I’m very happy that he’s here.”
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