Mohamed Salah dropped to bench for Liverpool's game at Frankfurt in Champions League

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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Mohamed Salah has dropped to the Liverpool bench for only the second time this season as coach Arne Slot seeks to end his team’s four-game losing run when it faces Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday .

In place of Salah, Hugo Ekitiké returns to the starting lineup to face his old club Frankfurt, with attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz also returning for his first game in Germany since joining Liverpool this summer.

Slot said he expects of his forwards that “off the ball that they work every single moment really hard," in pre-game comments to broadcaster DAZN. “These players are special, and they need to be special when we have the ball," he added.

Midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, right back Conor Bradley and left back Milos Kerkez also drop to the bench after Slot altered what had been an unchanged squad for Liverpool's Premier League losses against Chelsea and Manchester United.

Ryan Gravenberch did not travel to Germany with the Liverpool squad after twisting his ankle in the loss to United.

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