Liverpool have struggled with a series of defensive injury setbacks this term.placeholder image
Liverpool have struggled with a series of defensive injury setbacks this term. | Getty Images
Liverpool are in amongst the favourites for the Champions League but face a difficult last 16 tie.
Liverpool’s progress in the Champions League was relatively serene despite their domestic struggles.
Arne Slot could still drag the Reds into the top four by the end of the season and lift silverware but it has been a campaign fraught with friction and doubts about the direction that the club is heading in. Having fought so hard to get to the top of the table, they won’t want to get dragged into the chasing pack and will be hoping for improvement next season.
Liverpool face tough Champions League trip
There are no standout teams in this season’s Champions League, all the clubs who are left in have a realistic chance of going far with Bodo/Glimt showing that the power of momentum and belief that anything is possible. That and a notoriously difficult home ground.
This is what Liverpool face next in Europe’s premier tournament, not a trip to the arctic circle, but the sort of away trip that makes home form even more important. Up next is for Slot is either Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid or Victor Osimhen’s Galatasaray. The two clubs met last season in Istanbul with the Turk’s emerging as 1-0 victors in a game where Liverpool struggled to keep up.
Victor Osimhen doesn’t want Liverpool re-match
This is one of the reasons why Osimhen is keen to avoid a re-match, telling CBS Sports when asked if he would prefer to meet Liverpool or Spurs: “I mean to be honest with you, meeting Liverpool now is going to be like some sort of revenge. Anyone we meet now… I wouldn’t say much but I would like to escape Liverpool.
“But if they come, yeah, we’re going to dig it out but it’s not going to be easy. I mean this is Champions League, no team is easy, we can see how flying Bodo/Glimt are really doing in this tournament. If you want to win you also have to play the big dogs and make a statement for yourself. We’ve met Liverpool but we haven’t played at Anfield. If we meet them it’s going to be an amazing game. I think we’re up to the task, it’s not going to be easy, of course, but we have fight in us.”
Galatasaray might not win the Champions League, but like Bodo/Glimt, the could easily ruin the plans or a team or two who think that they can, Liverpool included.
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