Liverpool face arch-rivals Manchester United for the first time in European competition on Thursday.
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United sit sixth in the Barclays Premier League, three points off the top four, and Liverpool are a place and three points worse off, albeit with a match in hand.
The Europa League is down to 16 teams and there are plenty of mouth-watering ties awaiting punters, none more so than Borussia Dortmund’s clash with Tottenham and Liverpool’s pairing with Manchester United. But with Marcus Rashford being in inspired form on his debut and Memphis Depay having the best performance since joining the club last summer, United had enough quality to eventually defeat the Danes.
The two clubs are not only England’s two most successful clubs domestically – United have won 20 League titles to Liverpool’s 18 – but also in Europe.
The Germany captain was part of an 18-man party that gathered at a Liverpool city centre hotel and is set to be on the bench for the eagerly-awaited first leg with United’s old rivals. “We were very unfortunate in the last game, we just lacked a killer instinct”, Lallana explained.
Both of these teams will struggle to secure Champions League football via their domestic position, but winning the Europa League provides automatic qualification to next season’s group stages.
“We will try to keep focused on the games rather than working out the best way into the Champions League”.
“It’s a good moment for us at the minute”, he said.
Louis van Gaal even gave the 31-year-old midfielder time off to watch his tennis star partner Ana Ivanovic play in Dubai last month.
Villarreal will be looking to make the most of home-field advantage when they entertain Bayer Leverkusen, but I am not convinced they will claim a first leg lead. We want to beat the opponent.
“When you are writing that we have four times in a row it is much more hard for my players to win the fifth battle against them so don’t write it!” I hope it’s not the biggest in my Liverpool career but it’s very important. “I saw a lot of rubbish games at Champions League level”, he said.
A few weeks later and there’s a new biggest game of the season for Liverpool and the club’s new manager in his first year in charge.
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“Now you can see the finish line in this tournament there are only good teams left, it’s something like a small version of the Champions League in its own right”.
