It has been officially confirmed – Liverpool 2 games within 2 continents in a matter of 24 hours.
The Carabao Cup match featuring Jurgen Klopp’s side against Aston Villa is scheduled for the 17th of December. On the 18th Liverpool will play in the FIFA Club World Cup.
The Reds appealed to the EFL to re-schedule their League Cup quarter-final tie for a different week, but the date remained unchanged, despite Klopp’s threats of withdrawing his team from the Carabao Cup.
“If we did play while in Qatar, it would be two different teams but we cannot leave any players at home for the Carabao Cup.”, the German coach said.
“We have two games there [in Qatar] in a very busy period. It is not that we can go there with 11 players and say these 11 guys play two games in Qatar and the other guys play back home against Aston Villa. It doesn’t work like that. We will make a decision, but not yet.”, Klopp continued.
“I don’t want to cancel competitions. I am from Germany – why would I want to cancel English competitions? We cannot carry on like this. We have to sit down at the table and at one point find solutions. The solutions so far are more problems.”
Liverpool 2 games – decided to play
Still, the team from Merseyside have cooled down and decided to “utilize two playing squads simultaneously”, meaning one will play at the Carabao Cup fixture, while the other will feature in the Club World Cup in Qatar.
“The club would like to take this opportunity to underline that while this is not an ideal scenario, it is an outcome which was arrived at with the best interests of the competition, our fellow clubs and ourselves as the sole motivating factor.”, club officials said.
Liverpool’s next match will be this Sunday against league rivals Man City in a match that could turn out to be crucial for the outcome of the Premier League. Afterward, ‘till the end of November, The Reds will travel to Crystal Palace, then play Napoli and Brighton at home.
In addition, the Champions League holders are set to play at least 8 more games in December, including the Merseyside derby.
