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The Europa League continues, and thanks to an effective performance against Manchester United over two legs in the round of 16, Liverpool have a place in the quarter-finals. And making it this far into the contest probably meant it was inevitable that they'd eventually find themselves up against the odds-on favorites to lift the trophy in Basel: Jürgen Klopp's beloved Borussia Dortmund. This is one of those matches that has caught the interest of the wider football world because of interest in seeing Klopp taking another team back to the Westfalenstadion to take on Dortmund.
After a small resurgence in form for the Reds, Klopp's current side has stumbled a bit in recent weeks. They gave up a two goal lead, losing 3-2 to Southampton before the international break. At the weekend, they once again dropped points, this time to Tottenham after Philippe Coutinho had given them an lead early in the second half. However, they are unbeaten in Europe this season, Jürgen Klopp has experience navigating the Europa League, and if there's any manager in football right now who should know the key to beating these German heavy-hitters, it's him.
It's been reported that Roberto Firmino has travelled to Germany, which should encourage Liverpool supporters, since the talented Brazilian midfielder was been missed on the weekend. However, it's worth noting that he is one of several Liverpool players currently one yellow card away from a one match ban. The others include Philippe Coutinho and basically the team's entire back line: Dejan Lovren, Nathaniel Clyne, and Alberto Moreno. Maybe let Mama-dou the dirty work on Thursday, eh, boys?
Dortmund is also a team that has been given a potentially significant injury boost with first team players Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan, and Sokratis Papastathopoulos all once again training with the first team. Thomas Tuchel's men are enjoying a sixteen game unbeaten streak in all competitions. The main goal threat is star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has slotted in 38 goals for his club this season and added 11 assists. Only Neven Subotic is out with injury.
For Liverpool:
Mignolet
Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno
Henderson, Can
Milner, Lallana, Coutinho
Sturridge
It's unlikely Roberto FIrmino will be given the start, considering he has just recently returned from injury. It's more likely, then, that Liverpool will go with the same team that battled Spurs to a draw on Saturday. Jon Flanagan remains frustratingly unable to participate in Europa League games, which is even more of a problem in light of Clyne and Moreno's precarious yellow card situation. Lucas Leiva is still out, as are Christian Benteke and Kevin Stewart.
Kickoff is in the late Europa League slot for this one, at 8:05PM BST/3:05PM EST, with radio coverage from LFCTV GO online for subscribers across the globe. Televised options are BT Sport Europe in the UK and Fox Sports 1 in the US. Elsewhere, it will also be showing on BeIN Sports Australia in Australia, TSN2 in Canada, TEN Action in India, Supersport 3 Africa in Kenya, and Astro Supersport3 in Malaysia. You can find other listings at LiveSoccerTV.
We'll be keeping you updated with all the buildup to the game, including team news as it's released, our live matchday thread and post-match recaps from The Liverpool Offside team. If you want to join in with the matchday discussion, sign up for an SB Nation account to have your say on the game as it happens.