Pressed in with the head of his coach in play, Liverpool visit this Tuesday, October 17, the Maribor. The match is part of the schedule of the third and final round of the first round of group E of the Champions League of Europe season 2017/2018. It will be played from 16:45 (Brasília time) at the Ljudski Vrt stadium in Maribor, Slovenia.
The leadership is in the hands of Sevilla, who scored four points in the opening two games. Second place is split by Liverpool and Spartak of Moscow, with two points. Maribor is in the flashlight with one point added on all six possible.
Maribor’s recent performance
Reaching the right to play in the UEFA Champions League group stage seems to be the top prize for the Slovenian team, which of course is the one with the most limited budget compared to their key teams.
To reach this stage, however, the team managed to overcome this difficulty by eliminating Hapoel Beer Shiva from Israel, Hafnarfjordur from Iceland and Zrinjski from Belarus. So any point added can be considered a feat and is even able to feed some ambition in the crowd. That goal would be to try third place and play in the second half of the current season the European League knockout stage.
However, the most important battle front for Maribor is even the Prva League, the Slovenian Championship. On Friday, October 13, away from home, the team defeated Rudar 2-1. With 28 points (eight wins and four draws) they remained stuck in Ljubljana with 30 points (nine wins and three draws ).
The current form of Liverpool
The reds did not get off to a good start of the season. Despite the investment made in the hiring of reinforcements and, mainly, of giving up more than $ 500 million to free the midfielder Filipe Coutinho for Barcelona, the team skates both in the Champions League and in the English Championship.
The results were considered unsatisfactory enough that news of a possible dismissal of German coach Jurgen Klopp could happen soon. The coach himself spoke about this situation and defended his work.
This was done before Saturday’s classic, October 14, against Manchester United. At Anfield Road, Liverpool gave a positive response corroborating the coach’s position. He dominated practically all the game, had chances to score and come out victorious, however, once again wasted the chances having to settle for goalless equality at the end of the 90 minutes.
With 13 points (three wins, four draws and a loss), Liverpool remain out of contention for the title and even the qualifying zone for European tournaments. It appears in the eighth place of the English Championship with nine points of disadvantage compared to Manchester City, leader.
Although stumbling against United, one of the title contenders, might even have been ‘swallowed’ by directors and supporters, a bad new score against little Maribor would certainly not have the same understanding.
The difficulty of putting the ball in the nets and an insecure defense have been responsible for many of Klopp’s headaches. The offensive situation was even worse with the bruising of the Senegalese striker Sadio Mané. He suffered a concussion serving his national team in the qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup in Russia and is scheduled to return only in 2018. Also in the medical department are defender Nathaniel Clyne and midfielder Adam Lalana.
History of the bouts between Maribor and Liverpool
This will be the first match between teams.
PREDICTION: Liverpool win @ 1.18
