Neymar
Last year’s UEFA Champions League runners-up Liverpool will begin their European campaign by facing French champions, Paris Saint-Germain at Anfield today.
The Reds have made a perfect start to the Premier League season but now face a difficult period of fixtures with PSG, Chelsea twice, Manchester City and Napoli all within next six matches.
Les Parisiens have also enjoyed a perfect start to their league campaign, so these are two of Europe’s in-form sides and are sure to produce an interesting contest.
Liverpool faced their toughest test of the season so far against Spurs at Wembley and passed with flying colors. The difference at the end of the game was only a goal but it could and should have been more, as on another day The Reds could have easily had 5 or 6.
Jurgen Klopp’s men did not see much of the ball but produced 17 shots with 10 on target, the lion’s share over 90 minutes. Erik Lamela got a very late consolation for Tottenham which took the shine off the scoreline from Liverpool point of view, but this result will only boost the Kopites’ confidence of a title challenge.
On Friday night, PSG also extended their winning run to five games by thrashing Saint-Etienne 4-0 in Paris. The visitors had been unbeaten until this point but came unstuck in the capital.
It was a typically impressive display from the defending champions, dominating in both possession and chance creation, but today will be a completely different test.
Liverpool rested some players in their Saturday game against Tottenham, but cannot afford to do so under the lights today.
PSG also rested players for their weekend match, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Marquinhos all not featuring against Saint Etienne. The aforementioned players all come into their normal starting positions. The big question mark is in goal, who starts out of Gianluigi Buffon and Alphonse Areola? I believe it’ll be Buffon, as he started in the Trophee des Champions and is one of the most experienced players in Champions League history.
The most expensive football player in history is always going to be key to how this game goes. Liverpool will probably break down PSG’s defense at some point like they do to every team, but how the away side performs with the crowd on their backs will be critical to the outcome of this game.
Whether he’s providing, scoring himself or taking free-kicks, Neymar is always a threat and how The Reds deal with the Brazilian will define how the evening goes.
Contain him, and Liverpool have a good chance of winning, don’t, and it could be a very long night. Virgil Van Dijk’s excellent record at the back for Liverpool will be put to the sword this evening.
The Reds will have the Anfield crowd roaring them on and could win this game, but I feel their winning run could end here. With the likes of Neymar, Mbappe, Cavani and Di Maria on from the start and Draxler able to inflict damage from the bench, the French side will likely score, but so will Liverpool, they seemingly always do.-Sportskeeda
Today’s fixture
Barcelona vs PSV Eindhoven
Inter Milan vs Tottenham
Club Brugge vs B Dortmund
Monaco vs Atl Madrid
Red Star Belgrade vs Napoli
Schalke vs FC Porto
Galatasaray vs Lokomotiv Moscow
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