NapoliLiverpool faced Napoli last season on the road to winning our sixth European Cup in Madrid and knocked them out of the group stage. The Italian side went on to finish second in Serie A and were knocked out of the Europa league by runners-up in the quarter final against runners-up Arsenal by a 3-0 aggregate scoreline.Liverpool played Napoli home and away last year and in both games the home side were victorious by a 1-0 score-line, it was a difficult away tie for the Reds where we were very poor and didn’t even have a single shot on target as Koulibaly and company proved difficult to break down.
Napoli have made some good signings this summer, most noticeably centre-back Manolas from Serie A rivals Roma. Manolas scored against Juventus in their last game and may build a good partnership with Koulibaly. Hirving Lozano is also an extremely good signing for Napoli, the Mexican scored 34 goals in 60 games for Dutch side PSV in the two years he was there, he also scored against Juventus on his debut.Napoli tend to go with the 4-5-1 formation though it can become a 4-2-3-1 or an attacking 4-3-3, Mertens and Insigne can cause problems for defences but we have the best defender in the world so whose arsed? Their star man in my opinion is Koulibaly who is an immense centre-half and dominated the game last time we travelled to Italy.Dates:Napoli vs Liverpool – Tuesday 17th September 8PM (UK time)Liverpool vs Napoli – Wednesday 27th November 8PM (UK time)Squad: Karnezis, Meret, Ospina, Di Lorenzo, Ghoulam, Hysaj, Koulibaly, Luperto, Maksimovic, Malcuit, Manolas, Mario Rui, Allan, Elmas, Fabian Ruiz, Gaetano, Zielinski, Callejon, Insigne, Llorente, Lozano, Mertens, Milik, Younes. Red Bull SalzburgMane and Keita will get to return to play against their former club as we were drawn against the Austrian outfit from Pot three. Red Bull Salzburg or FC Salzburg as they’re commonly known as in UEFA Competitions are appearing in the group stage of the competition for the first time since 1994/95. Last season, Salzburg were knocked out of the Champions League playoff by Red Star Belgrade – who were in the same Champions League group as Liverpool and Napoli – on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate score line.The Austrian side also played Napoli last season and were knocked out by them in the last 16 of the Europa League after progressing through the group stage with a 100% record despite having a difficult group involving Celtic, Leipzig and Rosenborg. In the 2017/18 season, Salzburg reached the semi-final of the Europa League where they lost to Marseille.
Manager Jesse Marsch took over from Marco Rose in April and has tried two different formations so far this season, usually opting for the 4-4-2 but playing the 3-5-2 in their most recent fixture against WSG Wattens which to me sounds like a window cleaning company. Liverpool have never faced Red Bull Salzburg before so the Anfield fixture on the 2nd October will be the first meeting between the two sides.It’s difficult to guess what Salzburg will be like. They had a good Europa League run the last two seasons but ultimately, they play in the Austrian League and will most likely be miles behind Liverpool and Napoli when it comes to quality.Dates:Liverpool vs Salzburg – 2nd October 8PM (UK time)Salzburg vs Liverpool – 10th December 5:45PM (UK time)Squad: Stankovic, Kohn, Miguel, Walke, Vallci, Onguene, Romalho, Ulmer, Farkas, Pongracic, Wober, Kristensen, Ashimeru, Szoboszlai, Junuzovic, Minamino, Bernede, Okugawa, Mwepu, Koita, Hwang, Prevljak, Daka, Haland
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GenkI wanted Brugge but Genk will do, a nice short trip to Belgium and hopefully two wins for the Reds as Genk from the weird, messed up Belgian Pro League join our Champions League Group E from pot 4.Genk qualify for the competition having come away as eventual winners of the Jupiler Pro League. In their brief 31 year history Genk have won four league title and four domestic cups and like Salzburg, have never previously played Liverpool. It’s Genk’s third appearance in the group stages of the Champions League and the furthest they’ve gone in Europe in the past was the Europa League quarter finals in 2017.Keita and Mane are going back to their clubs when we play Salzburg and Divock Origi will be doing the same when it comes to playing Genk. Divock spent nine years in the academy at Genk before joining Lille in 2010.
Genk tend to line up in the 4-2-3-1 formation and most recently drew 1-1 with Simon Mignolet’s Club Brugge. Their Belgian manager Felice Mazzu joined Genk in 2019 and has no previous European experience.With the greatest respect to Genk, they might look good in the Belgian league but it is most certainly a side that we should comfortably beat Home and Away.Dates:Genk vs Liverpool – 23rd October 8PM (UK time)Liverpool vs Genk – 5th November 8PM (UK time)Squad: Vandevoordt, Coucke, Chambaere, Leysen, Wouters, Borges, Dewaest, Uronen, Maehle, Lucumi, Adewoye, Cuesta, Screciu, De Norre, Ito, Heynen, Hrosovsky,Piotrowski, hagi, Berge, Bongonda, Oyen, Saibari Ben El Basra, Sierra, Ndongala, Samatta, Paintsil, Nygren, Odey, Onuachu, Cuypers, Limbombe EkangoLiverpool also announced their squad earlier today for the upcoming UEFA Champions League campaign.The squad is as follows;Alisson, Elliott, Firmino, Salah, Gomez, Henderson, Keita, Lallana, Lonergan, Lovren, Mane, Matip, Milner, Origi, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Robertson, Adrian, Shaqiri, Fabinho, Van den Berg, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum, Alexander-Arnold, Brewster, Jones, Kane, Kelleher, Larouci, Lewis.Hopefully number seven is on it’s way!Up the European Reds!Jack Gill
