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August is finally upon us and suddenly the the long break without league play is coming to an end. Our last friendly match, before the all-out battles of the Premier League begin. In a true test of Liverpool’s stamina, the club is set to play their last pre-season match more or less 24 hours after meeting Luis Suarez and Barcelona at Wembley in London. Jürgen Klopp and his men travel all the way to another one of his former clubs, Mainz 05 and their Opel Arena, to go through their paces one last time before running out against Arsenal next weekend.
Returning to Mainz may be even more meaningful for the manager than the trip to Dortmund earlier this year. Klopp spent his entire professional playing career with the German club before becoming their manager in 2001. Two years later he brought the team up to the Bundesliga and kept them there for three more seasons before unfortunately falling back down to the second tier of German football. He even led them against Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool in 2006, beating them 5-0 in a friendly, before moving on to Dortmund in 2008. It’s his childhood club and maybe another chance to humbly brag what he’s been able to accomplish. Or at least humbly hint at what is to come with his current side.
The Reds should be riding high following their 4-0 win against Barcelona earlier today, and will be looking to carry that confidence all the way to Mainz with them. While we can’t expect the same team that ran out today to get more minutes, if any at all, it’ll be interesting to see who picks up a few more in the wake of more unfortunate injury news. James Milner was taken off just before halftime at Wembley and is awaiting a scan, and Daniel Sturridge didn’t even make the line up with a hip problem. The Liverpool Injury Crisis™ makes itself known once more. But the 34,000 capacity stadium is still sold out, and those ticket holders will be looking for a game worth watching - something Klopp has worked to deliver at every club he’s been with.
Kickoff: 2:45PM BST/9:45AM EST from Opel Arena, Mainz, Germany
Television: LFCTV (UK)
Online: LFCTV Go (Global)
Lossi
Donati, Balogun, Bell, Brosinski
Rodriguez, Clemens, Serdar, Onisiwo
De Blasis
Cordoba
Bench: Muller, Bengtsson, Muto, Malli, Samperio, Frei, Bussmann, Halimi, Holtmann, Hack, Klement
Manninger
Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Wisdom, Moreno
Grujic, Can, Henderson
Lallana, Origi, Woodburn
Bench: Mignolet, Kelleher, Klavan, Lovren, Maguire, Clyne, Randall, Gomes, Wijnaldum, Coutinho, Firmino, Mane, Brannagan, Hart, Stewart, Markovic, Ings
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