With their 2-1 win against Ajax last month representing Liverpool’s only win in their last four matches in all competitions, Jurgen Klopp may be relieved to have a European fixture on the horizon when Rangers visit Merseyside in midweek.
Klopp’s side showed great character to turn a 2-0 deficit on its head by leading Brighton & Hove Albion 3-2 at Anfield on Saturday, but the Reds could not hold onto a vital victory as Leandro Trossardsealed his hat-trick late on in the game.
The draw leaves Liverpool with only two wins from seven league games so far this season, but they will hope to make up ground on Napoli in Group A by beating Rangers on Tuesday.
With Napoli and Ajax facing each other back-to-back in the next two matchdays, Klopp will be targeting six points from their two matches against the Scottish Premiership and Europa League runners-up, who undoubtedly represent the weakest team in the group.
However, a team winning football matches as infrequently as Liverpool of late cannot afford any complacency to set in ahead of Tuesday’s fixture, even if they may not require their very best performance levels to claim a win.
That said, Rangers were ruthless in dispatching Hearts 4-0 away from home at the weekend, with Cameron Devlin’s straight red card after 39 minutes leaving the hosts in a spot of bother considering Antonio Colak had already bagged a brace.
Alfredo Morelos and former Liverpool winger Ryan Kent wrapped up the victory after the break, but Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s attentions will quickly return to Europe, where his side have failed to impress so far this campaign following a glorious run to the Europa League final last season.
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It is Rangers’ first foray into the Champions League group stage in 12 years, though, and perhaps the step up in quality of opposition has been a shock to everyone connected to the club, especially having been placed within what many dubbed the ‘Group of Death’ after August’s draw.
The Gers were thrashed 4-0 away to Ajax in their first game before losing 3-0 to Napoli at Ibrox Stadium last time out, with James Sands’s 55th-minute sending off for a bookable offence always making the Italians favourites to find a winner from that point onwards.
A trip to Anfield is not ideal for a team yet to claim their first point in the competition, but their out of sorts opponents could struggle to deal with van Bronckhorst’s side’s intensity, providing that they are at their usual standards in that regard.
