For the first time since 2016, Liverpool will play in the Europa League after failing to qualify for the Champions League last season.
The Reds make the trip to Austria to play LASK Linz in their opening match of Europa League Group E at the Raiffeisen Arena on Thursday night.
Liverpool were demoted to the second tier of European football for the first time in the Jurgen Klopp era after finishing fifth in the Premier League last season while LASK beat Bosnian side Zrinjski Mostar 3-2 in the qualifiers to book their place in this competition.
This is only the third time LASK have made it to the Europa League group stages having made their European football debut in 2019. They qualified again in the 2020/21 season but failed to make it past the group stages.
However, on current form, the one-time Austrian champions may fancy their chances of a better performance in a group that has French side Toulouse and Union SG from Belgium.
LASK are unbeaten in seven consecutive matches and are third in the Austrian Bundesliga table standings.
Liverpool are red hot too. They are also third in the Premier League and are unbeaten in five matches.
Klopp’s men came from behind to beat Wolves 3-1 at Molineux, their fourth successive win in the League. They are unbeaten in 16 competitive matches.
Although both teams are looking good so far this season, Liverpool are expected to get all three points from this fixture by virtue of their European pedigree and the big difference between the quality of the two squads
The six-time Champions League winners regularly played Europa League football between 2010 and 2016 and even reached the final in the latter year but lost to perennial winners Sevilla.
Team news
Four LASK Linz players have not been included in the matchday squad due to injury namely; Tobias Anselm, Yannis Letard and Adil Taoui, and Lenny Pintor, who scored 17 goals for the club last season.
As for Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Thiago Alcantara are out injured but everybody else is available for Klopp to select.
