Liverpool concluded their CL group stage on Wednesday, so today is all about the match reaction, the end-of-year awards and preparing for the weekend challenge.
Klopp’s squad rated at over €1 billion
It’s one thing buying one the most expensive teams, it’s quite another building it almost from scratch and paying a fraction of the price players become worth.
Sporting financial analysts KPMG have produced their regular look at the most valuable squads in Europe to coincide with the Champions League group stage being over and done with – and the Reds are one of just two clubs rated at worth over €1bn.
Man City just about lead the way, on £1.056 bllion, but then it’s the Reds with a squad worth £993 million.
Considering the vast difference in actual money spent to produce these squads for Klopp and Pep, it’s yet again testament to the amazing job the recruitment team do…and the coaching staff, too.
https://twitter.com/Football_BM/status/1336970478469193728
Nine of the 10 most-valuable squads made the Champions League last 16, Spurs being the exception, and after the Reds it’s Chelsea, Real Madrid and Barcelona rounding out the top five, with current reigning champions Bayern Munich in sixth.
Eight Reds shortlisted for World 11
Sticking with the theme of Liverpool impressing on a global scale, Fifpro have revealed the 55-strong shortlist of players who will make up the World 11 team for 2020.
This is a pretty huge deal for players as it’s voted for by all professionals around the world, who get to pick their best candidates from each of goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards.
While Bayern predictably have lots of names involved after their European exertions last season and the usual big-name stars around Europe are all pretty much involved again too, eight Reds are also on the list:
Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Thiago Alcantara, Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
Ali and Virg were the duo who made the final 11 last year from the Reds, while Bobby Firmino was shortlisted last year but misses out this time.
December 17 is the date for the official 11 to be confirmed.
Klopp, VAR and Midtjylland fallout
A draw, some debuts, a new record and a new skipper – a lot went on considering the result didn’t matter in Denmark!
- Midfielder Leighton Clarkson was pretty thrilled to be involved and explains why he is counting this one as his “proper debut”
- Trent captained the Reds for the first time and was rightly proud of the milestone – we bet there’s plenty more to come
- And the boss has detailed why several seniors played and Mo Salah was on for the whole 90
Quickfire LFC news
- The boss has a new role in mind for Minamino after a couple of recent outings (TIA)
- Liverpool are statistically most likely to be drawn against Borussia Monchengladbach in the CL last 16, apparently (Mail)
- In our latest loan watch, Harvey Elliott showed his creative side but Harry Wilson picked up a “bizarre” injury (TIA)
- Club Brugge are linked with a January move for Divock Origi by Belgian media (SW)
Around the Prem
- Man United are worried PSG and Juve might not be able to afford Paul Pogba this summer, which is presumably how Dortmund felt about United this summer over Sancho, just maybe without the ‘worried’ bit (ESPN)
- Wolves and Arsenal are among the sides keen on Valencia’s Maxi Gomez, which is that weird type of rumour which actually makes sense (Mail)
- Mourinho says Spurs should ‘fear no-one’ in the Europa League, which is pretty interesting talk after they have failed to beat teams from Belgium and Austria so far (Guardian)
- And the sad goodbyes to yesteryear’s footballing heroes continues with the news Italy’s 1982 legend Paolo Rossi has passed away (BBC)
Tweet of the day
Youngsters getting the chance to shine again.
A good night for our Academy ?? pic.twitter.com/pXf8O91nNp
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 10, 2020
What we’re reading
It wasn’t just the Reds who played a few unusual faces; Sky Sports examines the youngsters and second-string options who were given their chance in Europe this week.
Worth watching tonight
Europa League again…the group with Napoli, Real Sociedad and AZ has most riding on tonight’s games. From the later games, Celtic vs Lille should at least be entertaining!
