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Liverpool's midfielder, Ryan Gravenberch, will be eligible to play against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield on Sunday, despite receiving a red card ban in the final match of last season. The Dutchman's Premier League title celebrations were slightly dampened in May when he was shown a straight red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
At that moment, the Reds were trailing 1-0 and Gravenberch's decision to tackle Daichi Kamada was ultimately vindicated as Mohamed Salah later equalised, ensuring the points were split. Interestingly, Liverpool's first competitive match of the season is against Palace in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium.
Given that this is a competitive match, there have been queries about whether Gravenberch will be able to play for Liverpool today or if he'll be serving his suspension. The club has since confirmed that the 23-year-old can face Palace due to a loophole in the suspension rules.
Since the red card was issued in the Premier League, the ban will be served in that competition. However, this isn't always the case.
For more serious offences, the FA does reserve the right to extend the ban across all domestic competitions, but they've chosen not to do so in this instance. While Gravenberch can play today, the ban will carry over into the new Premier League season, which kicks off on Friday, August 15, at home against Bournemouth.
Arne Slot won't have the midfielder at his disposal for that match, but Gravenberch will be back in contention on Monday, August 25, for what could be a fiery clash against Newcastle United. Both clubs are currently tangled in a transfer saga involving Alexander Isak.
Reports on Saturday suggested that Newcastle's owners had told the striker he will not be sold this summer, although manager Eddie Howe would go on to leave the door open for a potential exit.
While Gravenberch is available for Liverpool today at Wembley, the Reds are set to be without two injured players.
Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez look likely to miss out after picking up knocks during pre-season, but Virgil van Dijk should be back after missing the friendlies against Athletic Club through illness.
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Alisson Becker is also likely to return, having left Liverpool's tour of Asia early to return to Brazil after his wife underwent surgery.
Liverpool.com says: It is a bit of an odd loophole, considering the Community Shield is classed as a competitive game, and in truth, Slot would probably prefer to have Gravenberch available against Bournemouth than Palace today.
His availability at Wembley does have the benefit of being able to manage Alexis Mac Allister's minutes a bit more though, which could come in handy assuming the Argentine will feature in the Premier League opener.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Liverpool ECHO by clicking here.
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