LIVERPOOL goalkeeper Alisson Becker has called on football’s authorities to speak to players about their welfare as the Reds kicked off their expanded Champions League campaign last night.

Uefa’s elite club-level competition now involves 36 teams, which means an extra two matches in a group stage which now does not finish until the end of January as opposed to mid-December.

The complaint about a packed calendar was usually one made loudly by former Reds boss Jurgen Klopp but Alisson has taken up the mantle and said the players are “tired” of the ever-increasing schedule.