As late night host, comedian and hard core life long Liverpool supporter John Oliver once joked of Jurgen Klopp: “he does not understand the concept of not going at full pace all the time.” And that’s what we love about him! The German, ahead of Liverpool’s final UEFA Champions League group stage match tomorrow night at RB Salzburg, took the hyperbole to the fastest pace he could.
A loss would see the reigning European champions bounced from the tournament without even having advanced to the round of 16. And thus Klopp literally referred to this Tuesday night affair as “the most important game of our life.” That is hype and hoopla that the network with the broadcasting rights will absolutely LOVE!
“Tomorrow night is the most important game of our life because there isn’t another one [if we lose],” Klopp said. “I just expect us to play the best game we could play, but everybody knows it is a final and we are prepared for that.
“Salzburg needs to win against us and we are there. But we are not a typical Champions League winner — we are still ambitious as crazy and will run and fight for our lives and give 100% in every challenge.
“But we have to show we deserve to go through. If Salzburg go through, they deserve and we won’t. I am not nervous, but I am tense. It’s a special situation — if something is important for you, you want to reach it, so it is stress and you learn to live with this stress.
“I lost many important games over my career, but in the last year, it has gone better.”
So with that in mind, let’s take a look at all the preview material for this one.
Liverpool FC vs RB Salzburg UCL Group Stage FYIs
team news for both sides: go to this link
Liverpool Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Kickoff: Dec. 10, 5:55 pm Red Bull Arena Salzburg
Form Guide: Liverpool- DWWWL RB Salzburg- WDLLW
Odds: 20/23 Liverpool win, 16/5 draw, 29/10 RB Salzburg victory
Google’s result probability: 52% Liverpool win, 23% draw, 25% RB Salzburg victory
Prediction: Liverpool FC 5, RB Salzburg 4
Expect a thrilling, high-scoring affair.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.