Liverpool play their 225th European Cup fixture tonight against RB Leipzig; here are the best stats ahead of the game as the Reds look to reach the quarter-finals for the eighth time in the Champions League era.
Reds in Europe
This is the 10th season from 13 attempts that the Reds have reached this stage of the Champions League.
Liverpool have gone out of the Champions League at this stage on two occasions – last season to Atletico Madrid (the home game was the last time the Reds played in front of a capacity crowd) and to Benfica in 2005/06.
The Reds are facing their 133rd different European opponent and the third this season they have met for the first time.
Numbers which matter
Alisson recorded his 50th clean sheet for the Reds in the first leg, becoming only the 12th goalkeeper to do so.
In Curtis Jones and Ozan Kabak – both 20 years old – Liverpool named two players under the age of 21 in their starting XI for a Champions League knockout stage game for the second time – the last being Scott Carson and Anthony Le Tallec against Juventus in April 2005.
They need two goals to record 100 in this competition under Jurgen Klopp. This is his 44th game in the competition.
Diogo Jota scored four goals in 359 minutes of group action before his injury in his last European outing at Midtjylland.
Names and faces
Four players featured in all seven Champions League games during this campaign – Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah and Andy Robertson.
Robertson will celebrate his 27th birthday the day after this game.
The first leg win saw Thiago record an 11th successive Champions League win, the joint-longest run of victories by a Spaniard in the history of the competition alongside Dani Carvajal (April 2018) and Javi Martinez (November 2020).
Naby Keita was a Leipzig player from 2016-18, scoring 17 in 71 appearances.
German foes
The Reds have met clubs from Germany on 45 occasions, winning 23, drawing 15 and losing seven.
Liverpool have not lost any of their last 11 legs of a tie against clubs from Germany, winning eight and drawing three. The last loss came with the 4-2 reversal at Bayer Leverkusen in 2002.
The Reds have now faced 13 different teams from Germany, more than any other nation.
On the last two occasions the Reds have faced German opponents at this stage they have gone on to win the Champions League. They defeated Bayer Leverkusen in both legs in 2005 and eliminated Bayern Munich in 2019.
Reasons for optimism
Liverpool have never been eliminated from European competition after winning the first leg by a 2-0 scoreline.
The Reds have kept five clean sheets in their seven European outings this season.
Salah now has scored 24 goals in 42 Champions League appearances, while Sadio Mane has 18 from 41 and Roberto Firmino 16 from 42. Only Steven Gerrard, with 30 goals, is ahead of the trio in all phases of the competition.
Liverpool have won four of their five European penalty shoot-outs.
The Reds have also won four of their last five games played outside of Merseyside.
Looking at Leipzig
Leipzig are in the knockout rounds of this competition for the second time in their fledgling history.
Last season they reached the semi-finals only to lose to PSG in a one-off tie in Lisbon.
Leipzig have yet to take part in a European penalty shoot-out.
They have won eight of their last nine games in all competitions – the only game they failed to win was against Liverpool.
Since the defeat to the Reds, they have won four in a row scoring 11 goals in the process and keeping three clean sheets. Nine of those 11 goals have come in the second half.
Liverpool are the only team to prevent Leipzig from scoring in the last 15 games.
Christopher Nkunku, Ibrahima Konate, Benjamin Henrichs, Justin Kluivert, Dani Olmo, Nordi Mukiele and Marcel Sabitzer would miss the first leg of the quarter-final, should they overcome Liverpool, if any pick up a yellow card. The same applies to Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner for the Reds.
Julian Nagelsmann has lost all three times he has faced Liverpool in Europe. He was the coach of Hoffenheim when his team lost 6-3 on aggregate in a Champions League qualifier in August 2017.
Scorers this season
Liverpool: Salah 24, Mane 11, Jota 9, Firmino 6, Jones 4, Minamino 4, Wijnaldum 3, Alexander-Arnold 1, Grujic 1, Henderson 1, Matip 1, Origi 1, Robertson 1, Shaqiri 1, van Dijk 1, own goals 4.
RB Leipzig: Poulsen 11, Angelino 8, Nkunku 7, Forsberg 6, Sabitzer 6, Orban 5, Haidara 4, Mukiele 4, Olmo 4, Sorloth 4, Halstenberg 2, Hwang Hee-chan 2, Kluivert 2, Adams 1, Konate 1, Upamecano 1, own goals 1.
Stats via Ged Rea.
