Paris: Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool will attempt to clinch their place in the lucrative Champions League group stage this week as they take a 2-1 lead into their play-off second leg against Hoffenheim.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick and a second-half own goal handed the Reds a commanding advantage in Germany, but Mark Uth’s late strike provided Hoffenheim with a glimmer of hope ahead of the return at Anfield.
Klopp rotated his squad for Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the Premier League, making five changes to the team with tomorrow’s European encounter weighing heavily on his mind.
It is three years since the Anfield outfit, five times European champions, last graced the group stage of the continent’s elite club competition.
“The performance and the result were not perfect, far from it. We still have much to do in this tie,” Klopp said in Liverpool’s matchday programme at the weekend.
The club have also rejected a third bid from Barcelona for star playmaker Philippe Coutinho, turning down a reported offer worth around £114 million ($146.5 million).
The 25-year-old Brazilian has submitted a transfer request, but Liverpool have publicly stated Coutinho, currently sidelined by a back problem, is not for sale at any price.
Hoffenheim started the new Bundesliga campaign with a 1-0 victory at home to Werder Bremen, and Germany midfielder Kerem Demirbay still harbours hope of stunning Liverpool in the second leg.
“We could achieve something extraordinary there. We could turn it around. We will give everything to do that,” said Demirbay, who was part of Germany’s Confederations Cup-winning side in Russia.
Scottish champions Celtic are all but assured of a return to the group phase following a 5-0 demolition of Astana in last week’s first leg in Glasgow.