Hamann's Bewilderment Over Slot's Isak Gambit: "I've Never Heard Anything Like It"

Didi Hamann has left scratching his head over Arne Slot's choice to thrust Alexander Isak into the starting XI for Liverpool's Champions League knockout against Paris Saint-Germain—a match that ended in a 2-0 defeat at Anfield and 4-0 aggregate elimination for the Reds.

The night proved costly on multiple fronts. Ousmane Dembele bagged both goals in the second-leg reverse, while Hugo Ekitike's suspected Achilles injury threatens to sideline the striker for up to nine months.

Isak's involvement proved short-lived. After three months without competitive action, the Sweden international lasted only 45 minutes before Slot hauled him off at the interval, sensing the gamble hadn't paid dividends. The forward showed glimpses—a header from a set-piece and a dangerous run in behind Willian Pacho that finished marginally offside—but lacked the sharpness required to trouble the Parisiens.

Slot's post-match explanation centred on contingency planning. The Liverpool manager outlined his thinking: should the tie extend to extra-time, Isak would have faced an unrealistic turnaround with just two minutes between the 45-minute mark and the additional 30 minutes. Starting him allowed for a half-time assessment before potentially adding five to ten minutes of additional first-half football. However, once forced into an earlier substitution, Slot deemed it unwise to make a second change just five minutes after the restart.

"He was ready," Slot insisted. "If I thought he wasn't ready, I wouldn't have played him."

The manager pointed to Isak's near-misses as vindication, suggesting the striker's quality shone through despite the rust. "He was twice close to a goal and that's why you play a striker of his level," Slot reasoned, before adding that his overall first-half display compared favourably to Liverpool's showing the previous week.

Yet Hamann, the former Liverpool midfielder, remains unconvinced. Speaking to Sky Deutschland, he labelled the entire approach bewildering. "He hasn't played for three months and then he comes up against the best team in Europe and suddenly he should play," Hamann said. "And Slot doesn't want to bring him on because he might not be able to play extra time. I have to be completely honest: I had the utmost respect for the man, but I've never heard of anything like this. I don't know if something like this has ever happened before. Probably, but not in the Champions League."

It remains one of those tactical decisions that divides opinion—bold experimentation or questionable judgment against Europe's elite when the stakes couldn't be higher.