Federico Chiesa admits Liverpool 'relief' and addresses fitness question

Federico Chiesa has indicated he is ready to make his first start for Liverpool as he reflected on a "really amazing" home debut. Chiesa came off the bench for the final 18 minutes of the 3-0 Premier League win against Bournemouth on Saturday for his first appearance at Anfield since arriving from Juventus last month for an initial £10million.

The Italy international had been given a brief cameo for his first Reds outing in the 3-1 Champions League success at AC Milan four days earlier.

And Chiesa - who could make a full debut in the League Cup third round clash at home to West Ham United on Wednesday - believes he is continuing to improve his fitness.

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"I am (feeling more sharp)," he said. "I am training for that, training harder and faster and training to be ready to play. But it depends on the coach and when he wants me to play. I just have to be ready."

Asked if his first experience of playing at Anfield had met his expectations, Chiesa said: "Yes, it did. Hearing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' for the first time from the bench was amazing. It was amazing against Nottingham Forest but unfortunately we lost, but today was really amazing. I enjoyed every bit of it.

"I think I played seven minutes in Milan, not too much, but I was very, very happy to make my debut against Milan. Today I just had to be ready and when the coach told me to get in the game I was so happy. It was also a relief as I wanted to play here at Anfield."

Chiesa had an opportunity to score with his first touch in front of the Kop but his ambitious shot from range was struck straight at Bournemouth goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

"I saw the ball bouncing and I was like 'why not?'," said Chiesa. "I was a bit unlucky. Then I hit the post but I was offside. I just came in and wanted to help the team and run for the team, and that's what I'm able to do."

Luis Diaz scored twice and Darwin Nunez once as Liverpool responded well to last weekend's shock home Premier League defeat to Nottingham Forest.

And speaking to LFC TV, Chiesa added: "It was a big result for us, we showed a great performance after a big loss against Nottingham Forest. We needed to bounce back from that. Today we wanted to show we are a big team who wants to perform at the highest level. We have to keep on going like this.

"The Premier League is really tough and we also have the Champions League. But against Milan and today we showed we can have a good run in both competitions."