Benitez made a suprise decision not to name the Finn in his 25 man Champions League squad for the group stages. The Liverpool boss has explained his decision.
"It was really difficult decision, but we had to do it. With the rule saying that you need more or less eight British - or local - players in the squads, we needed to decide which three centre-backs to have for the Champions League," he said.
"We now have four centre-backs who are good enough so they have to compete. And obviously it depends on the number of games we play and how we progress in the cup competitions too, so there could be a lot of games for many of our players."
"It was really difficult decision, but we had to do it. With the rule saying that you need more or less eight British - or local - players in the squads, we needed to decide which three centre-backs to have for the Champions League," he said.
"We now have four centre-backs who are good enough so they have to compete. And obviously it depends on the number of games we play and how we progress in the cup competitions too, so there could be a lot of games for many of our players."