On Saturday Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool will face Hertha Berlin in a friendly match that means much more than any old friendly.
Both clubs formed in 1892 , are celebrating their 125th anniversaries when they meet this coming weekend.
The clubs last met in a friendly in July 2008 at the Olympiastadion where they drew 0-0 in what was considered a spectacularly poor game, featuring names such as Dani Pacheco and Andrey Voronin in the Liverpool team.
The two sides have never met in a competitive game in their histories.
Hertha will be looking to kick on from a good season that saw them finish sixth in the Bundesliga, with new signings Matthew Leckie, Karim Rekik and Davie Selke looking to impress at their new club.
Liverpool and Hertha have don’t have a big history of doing business with one another, promising Red’s midfielder Allan De Souza being the most recent player to make a switch between the two clubs, playing 15 games out on loan in Berlin last season. The youngster had looked to be staying at Hertha for a second consecutive season but any move now seems unlikely.
Before that Andriy Voronin was another loan signing for Hertha when he joined on loan from Liverpool back on deadline day 2008, only a month after the 0-0 friendly draw at the Olympiastadion. Voronin had a decent spell in Berlin, scoring 11 goals in 28 games however when he returned to Liverpool the following season he showed more of his previous poor form and was shipped out in 2010 to Dynamo Moscow.
The Red’s took out a 30 man squad including the returns of Sadio Mane and Danny Ings who were both left out of the Hong Kong tour due to injury, whilst also featuring new signing Andy Robertson, the Scottish left back joining last week in a deal going up to £10 million.
It marks a possible end to Danny Ings’ injury problems that have plagued his first two seasons at Liverpool, restricting him to only six league appearances. Touch wood that the striker can keep fit and find his form that saw Liverpool sign the striker from Burnley in the first place.
However injuries to James Milner and Nathaniel Clyne have ruled them out of the game on Saturday whilst Loris Karius and Danny Ward are both struggling to be fit for the match. Clyne has not been seen yet this pre-season, a back injury keeping him out of the Asia Cup in Hong Kong looking to also keep him out for at least this Saturday fixture.
Klopp said on Clyne “This is maybe the longest Clyney has been out, with a little bit of an issue with the back. We have to wait, time is running and we need Clyney of course.’ Milner did play in Hong Kong but an issue with his quad has him struggling for fitness in Germany.
Liverpool’s full squad: Karius, Clyne, Wijnaldum, Lovren, Milner, Firmino, Coutinho, Salah, Gomez, Henderson, Sturridge, Grujic, Klavan, Moreno, Mane, Lallana, Mignolet, Can, Robertson, Origi, Ings, Solanke, Matip, Flanagan, Kent, Ward, Ejaria, Woodburn, Alexander-Arnold, Grabara.