1xBet.ie highlights the key storylines of the European season for Liverpool fans. Watching LFC matches in the Champions League league phase will be even more exciting with the Welcome Bonus. All new users who enter the PLAYOFF26 promo code when registering and place a bet of at least €10 will receive up to €48.
Schedule is Liverpool’s trump card
The Opta supercomputer has calculated the difficulty of the fixtures for all Champions League clubs. According to its assessment, Liverpool are among the top ten teams with the easiest schedules. In the league phase, the Reds are set to face:
- Atlético Madrid (Home)
- LASK (Away)
- Villarreal (Home)
- Fenerbahçe (Away)
- Club Brugge (Away)
- Porto (Home)
- Inter Milan (Away)
- Lens (Home)
A favourable fixture list to help the team adapt to the requirements of their new head coach Andoni Iraola. Last season, Liverpool beat Atlético at Anfield (3-2) and snatched a late victory against Inter in Milan (1-0).
The Reds have a good chance of finishing in the top eight and qualifying directly for the round of 16, but in terms of squad depth, they lose out to Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona and a few other European giants. That is why a place in the top 24 may seem a more realistic objective.
(Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)
Liverpool are short on players
During the summer transfer window, the Reds focused on signing Bradley Barcola, while also bringing in Jérémy Jacquet and Víctor Muñoz and taking Ronald Araújo on loan. However, they neglected the problem positions of defensive midfield and right-back.
The opening league matches showed that Jeremie Frimpong lacks reliability in defence, whereas central midfielders Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister feel more comfortable playing as number 8s than number 6s.
Liverpool have also started the season with just one striker in Alexander Isak while Hugo Ekitike is still recovering from injury. It is hard to imagine that the Swede will be able to play two games a week, featuring in both domestic and Champions League matches.
The lack of depth in the squad limits the options for rotation, which is vital for clubs competing in European tournaments.
New challenge for Andoni Iraola
During his managerial career, the Basque led Rayo Vallecano back up to La Liga and helped them consolidate their place in the top flight. Moreover, under Iraola, Bournemouth qualified for European competition for the first time in their history.
(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
His teams play a modern style of football, characterised by intense pressing and a high defensive line. Young players make rapid progress under his guidance – during Iraola’s tenure, the Cherries sold Antoine Semenyo to Manchester City, Dominic Solanke to Spurs, Illia Zabarnyi to Paris Saint-Germain, Dean Huijsen to Real Madrid and Milos Kerkez to Liverpool for substantial sums.
However, he has never worked with a club at the very top level in Europe and is making his Champions League debut this season. It remains to be seen how he will cope with the pressure from the media and the fans, and whether he will be able to prepare the team to compete in several tournaments at once.
What to expect?
Liverpool are far better at springing surprises than living up to expectations. The appointment of Iraola as head coach signals an ambition to play entertaining and stylish football, but he will need time to rebuild the team and integrate the newcomers.
If he manages to quickly convey his vision of the game to the players, the Reds could well go far in the knockout phase and even become the tournament’s biggest sensation.
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