UEFA Champions League
3rd Qualifying Round 1st Leg
Wed 13th August 2008 (20:05) @ Stade Maurice Dufrasne, Belgium
Liverpool begin their competitive season on Wednesday night with an short trip over to the Belgian city of Liege.
Standard Liege are certainly not the easiest opponents the reds could have landed and are the current Champions of Belgium having broken a 25 year wait to land the title in a country where Anderlecht and FC Brugge are usually dominant.
Liege are also known as ‘The Reds’ so Liverpool should be expected to line up in their new European away shirts for the evening.
Steven Defour is their club captain and fans’ favourite. The player also picked up the Golden Shoe award in Belgium in 2007.
Serbian Milan Jojanovic helped fire Standard Liege to the title last year and usually averages a goal a game up front.
Eyes on Liverpool though, and with Steven Gerrard out after suffering a thigh strain all eyes will be on whether Xabi Alonso takes part. If he does, then it is highly unlikely he will be leaving Liverpool this summer. Robbie Keane is also expected to make his Champions League debut. The Irishman was at Inter Milan the season they didn’t compete in the European Cup and he was also at Leeds when they played in the European Cup, but unfortunately could not play because of the loan deal he was on at the time.
History
Liverpool played Standard Liege twice, home and away, in the 2nd round of the European Cup Winners Cup in December 1965. A 3-1 home win was helped further with a 2-1 away win in Belgium. Roger Hunt and Ian St John grabbed the goals in Liege.
Betting
Standard Liege 5/1
Draw 5/2
Liverpool 1/2
Paddy Power are offering an impressive free £20 bet when you place a £10 bet. Bargain! The offer is here.
Opposition Links
Official Standard Liege Website
TV
The match will be shown live on ITV1 in Great Britain. The programme begins at 8pm.
Fan Discussion
You can discuss the game against Standard Liege in the forum here
http://www.lfcreds.com/reds/index.php/topic,8863.0.html
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I really hope Liverpool will i think it will win 2-1 but if it is a draw the game will go into penity shootout and jose reina i good a savig pentity and our players are good in shooting ……..remember when liverpool was playing away against sandard leige reina save that penity in 11 mins
1 – 1 draw or 2 – 1 Liverpool. Am still not sure about our defence. El Tel Alicante Spain
Liverpool will win 2-0….