Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool play the final
game of their pre-season preparations
when they host a talented Borussia
Dortmund side on Sunday (12.15pm kick
off).
Liverpool make a long awaited return to
Anfield for the first time since May 11th,
where they’ll face one more dress rehearsal
fixture before the real thing kicks off seven
days later against Southampton. The Reds
enjoyed an entertaining and relatively
successful pre-season schedule that
certainly provided the squad with what
they needed heading into the new
campaign.
Sunday’s game against Dortmund will
provide a stern test for Rodgers’ men, who
will be looking to use the fixture to blow
out any remaining cobwebs before the
season commences.
The match could also see Rodgers pick what
he hopes to be his starting team on the
opening day of the season, as Liverpool look
to step up their intensity with just days left
to prepare for the most demanding
campaign the club has faced in five seasons.
It will be the first time the two clubs have
met for any type of fixture since October
2001, where Liverpool, under the guidance
of Gerard Houllier recorded a comfortable
2-0 win in the group stage of the
Champions League at Anfield. A goal in
each half from Vladimir Smicer and
Stephen Wright that day was enough to
hand Liverpool a comfortable win in Group
B.
Team News
Adam Lallana is a known absentee for the
Reds and he’s definitely unavailable for the
match. Fellow newcomer Lazar Markovic is
also set to miss the game after he sat out
the clubs’ open day training session at
Anfield on Friday morning, which also saw
Jon Flanagan, Daniel Agger and Fabio
Borini uninvolved with speculation over
the latter two players’ future continuing to
rumble on.
No Adam Lallana or Lazar
Markovic at training today for
#LFC
— Phil Kirkbride (@philkecho)
August 8, 2014
Sturridge trained today and
will be available for Dortmund.
Lallana, Markovic, Flanagan,
Agger weren’t in training.
— Kop 305 (@Kop305) August
8, 2014
There was better news over Daniel
Sturridge however, who did take part in
training and is reported as being fit for
Sunday’s showcase game and the prolific
striker could be joined in attack by the
ever-blossoming Raheem Sterling and
Brazilian magican, Philippe Coutinho .
Dejan Lovren is set to receive the first
minutes of his Liverpool career in the
friendly clash after he was frustratingly
denied the chance to join up with the rest of
the squad on the USA tour due to problems
with his work visa.
#Lovren at LCB, #Skrtel at
RCB, Johnson at left back and
Manquillo at right back
(training now) #LFC — LFCZA
(@LFCZA) August 8, 2014
The Croatian was reportedly lined up in a
potential starting back four, partnered
alongside Martin Skrtel with Glen Johnson
and excited new arrival Javier Manquillo
lining up as the full-backs.
Enjoying training for the first
time at Anfield, magnificent
stadium with so much history.
How lucky I am for beeing
here.
— Javier Manquillo
(@javiermanquillo) August 8,
2014
Opposition
After a period of turmoil, Dortmun –
transformed by the charismatic Jurgen
Klopp – have enjoyed success in recent
seasons, claiming a historic double win in
2011-12 and winning the DFL Supercup in
2013 – but BVB just missed out on
Champions League glory in the same season
after slipping to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of
rivals Bayern Munich at Wembley.
Like Liverpool, Dortmund will be looking to
improve on last season’s 2nd placed
finished and pre-season preparations that
are well underway have gone swimmingly
to date with six wins and a draw from
seven friendly matches – including a 10-0
win over Swiss side Rapperswill.
Kevin Großkreutz about the
Liverpool match: “I want to
play there, it’s tradition and
everyone is looking forward to
it.” #BVB #LFC
— Sandra Goldschmidt
(@SanBorussia) August 5,
2014
Similarly, Sunday’s game represents their
last friendly fixture before Klopp’s men
take on Bayern Munich in the German
Supercup, which will be played 10 days
before their opening fixture of the league
season when they’ll face Bayer Levekusen.
Dortmund’s squad continues to boast talent
everywhere you look, from commanding
and stylish defender Mats Hummels in the
back four to much coveted forward player
Marco Reus in attack.
Dortmund have sold over 1000
tickets for their end, and ours
are sold out. Should be good.
— Kop 305 (@Kop305) August
8, 2014
Former Liverpool loanee Nuri Sahin is
likely to make a return to Anfield and one
time heavily linked transfer target Henrik
Mkhitaryan along with exciting new
£14.6million singing Ciro Immobile, who
finished last season as top scorer in the
Italian Serie A, could both feature in the
game.
The two clubs carry a number of well-
documented similarities – including both
proudly singing You’ll Never Walk Alone
before matches – and the away fans will
undoubtedly be welcomed at Anfield on
Sunday, having previously displayed
banners showing their support for the
justice campaign that continues to be
courageou

should be a great match, expecting Liverpool to win though. YNWA

OFFICIAL LFC XI vs BVB :
Mignolet
Manquillo - Skrtel - Lovren - Johnson
Can - Henderson
Sterling - Gerrard - Coutinho
Sturridge
Subs: Jones, Kelly, Toure, Sakho, Coates,
Enrique, Lucas, Allen, Suso, Ibe, Lambert.

Front page mod

11 :50 . Liverpool's tactics today. A
standard 4 - 3- 3 , with Gerrard sitting deep
and Can and Henderson roam about in
front of him . Sturridge is the lone
forward, with Sterling and Coutinho
either side , likely to drop deep and create
for the English striker.