Liverpool vs Augsburg – UEFA Europa League – Preview

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Sreya

Liverpool hosts Augsburg at Anfield on 25th February, Thursday for the second leg of their Round of 32 UEFA Europa League fixture, after the initial away leg in Germany ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

Augsburg won only three of their six group stage fixtures in the UEFA Europa League while Liverpool are yet to lose in the competition this season.

Team News

Joe Allen, Joseph Gomez, Danny Ings, Adam Lallana, Kevin Stewart and Cameron Brannagan are the confirmed absentees for Jurgen Klopp’s side. Martin Skrtl has been listed as a doubt while Dejan Lovren is likely to miss out as well. Daniel Sturridge is set to return to the first eleven after a lengthy spell of absence.

Markus Feulner and Raul Bobadilla has joined the list of injury concerns since the first leg, alongside Daniel Baier, Jan Moravek, Piotr Trochowski and Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker. Jeong-Ho Hong is doubtful and will face a late fitness test.

Liverpool Possible Starting Lineup: Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne, Kolo Toure, Sakho, Alberto Moreno, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Emre Can, Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho.

Augsburg Possible Starting Lineup: Marwin Hitz, Paul Verhaegh, Christoph Janker, Ragnar Klavan, Konstantinos Stafylidis, Ja-Cheol Koo, Dominik Kohr, Alexander Esswein, Halil Altintop, Tobias Werner, Alfred Finnbogason.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“I think we created enough chances to score [in the first leg]. Unfortunately the end product didn’t happen. It’s difficult to create chances [against German teams], but then the small chances you get, you need to capitalize on.”

– Simon Mignolet, Liverpool.

It’s difficult to say [if we can knock out Liverpool]. We did really well at home, and we’ll try to do the same in Liverpool. It’s a huge game for us, and we’ll give everything. We’ll have to see whether that is enough.

– Ja-Cheol Koo, Augsburg.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head statistics, these two sides have met only once before during the first leg which ended in a draw. Liverpool must score against the Bundesliga side and avoid conceding as a scoring draw will ensure the German club’s progression.

Liverpool are undefeated in their last seven matches in the UEFA Europa League but have drawn five of those matches. Moreover, there have been less than 2.5 goals scored in Liverpool’s previous eight UEFA Europa League games. It is likely to be a low-scoring encounter but Liverpool should progress to the Round of 16 as a 2-1 win for the hosts is the most probable outcome of this fixture.