Liverpool F.C. vs F.K. Red Star Belgrade – Match Preview

Liverpool return to the biggest club football competition tomorrow, when they welcome Red Star Belgrade to Anfield for match day three of this season’s Champions League group stage. Anfield will be hoping for another special night at the famous ground on Walton Breck Road.

Overview

A win would see the Reds at least retain their current second place in Group C. They could even end the night on top, depending on the result between Paris Saint-Germain and Napoli. Liverpool go into this match after a hard fought win against Premiership strugglers Huddersfield Town at the weekend. The result leaving them second behind Manchester City.

Final session. ⚽️

🔜 #UCL matchday three pic.twitter.com/flJ83M6yi1

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 23, 2018

Red Star Belgrade on the other hand, strolled past mid-table Rad in the Serbian SuperLiga to give them a modest seven-point lead at the top. Boasting a goal difference of 26 – 15 more than second placed FK Radnički Nilš. Their current record: P:12; W:11; D:1; L:0. The words, “big” “fish” “pond” and “little” come to mind here!

Team News

Liverpool will welcome Sadio Mané back to the starting line up. The 26 year-old missed the weekends game after breaking a finger whilst training with the Senegal national team during the international break. Naby Keïta and Jordan Henderson are the only injury concerns, both being ruled out by Jürgen Klopp.

https://twitter.com/iliverpoolapp/status/1054740804005183490?s=21

Given his influence in the game at the weekend, it’s likely that Xherdan Shaqiri could also secure his second start in a week. With Red Star being a relatively weak team, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fabinho given a chance to build on Saturday’s performance. Same applies to Gini Wijnaldum and Roberto Firmino who both came on as substitutes against Huddersfield.

Red Star will be without supporters as they are currently serving a ban. An incident during their qualifying game, away to Red Bull Salzburg left them with a 2-2 draw and a handful of charges from UEFA. The result: a two (away) game ban on selling tickets to their supporters, in addition to a €30,000 fine.

Betting Odds

I wouldn’t consider Црвено-бели (the Red and Whites apparently) to be the whipping boys. They held Napoli to a 0-0 draw in the first group game in September – albeit at home – so they must have something about them. That said, they fell to a 6-1 drubbing at PSG so you’d expect Liverpool to come out victorious in this tie.

In terms of prices, according to SportsBettingDime the Liverpool shows currently +700 (or 7-1 in old money) to lift the trophy which is actually not a bad punt. They currently stand as fifth favourites.

Summary

Despite some clear talent in the Red Star squad, most right-thinking people would expect Liverpool to win by a comfortable margin tomorrow night. An Anfield full of home fans and an abundance of quality should see the hosts through.

I don’t do predictions, but if I did, I’d say 3-0 to Liverpool.

Follow us on:

Twitter: @TheLFCFile

Facebook: @thelfcfile