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The excitement is beginning to mount as Liverpool play their final friendly before the season officially starts. Only a week from their opening match against Watford, Jürgen Klopp gets one more chance to work through the kinks as the Reds take on another Spanish team in Athletic Bilbao. The game will be played in Dublin at the Aviva Stadium, home to the Republic of Ireland National Team.
The good news for Liverpool is that the front line of Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, and Sadio Mané still looks pretty epic. The bad news is that Klopp will be without several key players.
The biggest gut punch for the team and the fans was the news that Adam Lallana would be missing up to three months with a thigh injury. This is...it’s not great. Also not great is the missing Nathaniel Clyne, who is also likely to miss out on Liverpool’s opening match next week as well. Also missing from this match will be Daniel Sturridge, who went off injured after scoring a wonderful goal against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, and Philippe Coutinho, who is reported to be having some back issues. Finally, the Echo is reporting that Jordan Henderson will also sit this one out due to illness. Lallana, Clyne, Coutinho, and probably Hendo, would make Klopp’s best starting XI, so it’s frustrating that they will be unavailable to him today.
But! Maybe Mo Salah will score another goal, and everything will be great again.
Kickoff: 5:15PM BST/12:15PM EST from Aviva Stadium
Television: LFCTV (UK); NESN (USA); other listings at LiveSoccerTV
Online Streaming: LFCTV | Online Radio: LFCTV GO (International)
Starting XI: Mignolet; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Lovren, Moreno; Can, Milner, Grujic; Salah, Origi, Firmino
Bench: Karius, Ward, Wijnaldum, Gomez, Klavan, Mane, Robertson, Solanke, Flanagan, Kent, Ejaria, Woodburn
Starting XI: Arrizabalaga, Boveda, Saborit, San Jose, Williams, Lekue, Rico, Merino, Aketxe, Cordoba, Nunez
Bench: Herrerin, Etxebarria, Sola, Villalibre, Etxeita, de Marcos, Vesga, Balenziaga
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