“Old acquaintance” Liverpool gives test gala at Salzburg
Around a month and a half before the start of the Champions League, soccer series champions Red Bull Salzburg get their first appetizer on Wednesday (8 p.m./live ServusTV) in the sold-out arena in Wals-Siezenheim. Guests are Liverpool’s star squad, which could later become opponents in the premier class – once again. 29,520 fans will attend the duel with Jürgen Klopp’s squad, and ex-“bull” Naby Keita will also be there.
Keita, first to RB Leipzig in 2016 and then to Liverpool in 2018, is the last former Salzburg player in the Reds squad. Because both Sadio Mane (Bayern Munich) and Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco) left the CL finalists, runners-up, FA and League Cup winners in the summer. The audience WILL get to see Mane successor Darwin Nunez, among others. Liverpool write around 75 million euros for the 23-year-old Uruguayan from Benfica Lisbon. In any case, the way is not far for Mohamed Salah and Co., they moved into their training quarters in Saalfelden for a week on Friday, as they did in 2020 and 2021.
While Liverpool only started the season on Sunday with the Community Shield match against champions Manchester City before the Premier League opener at Fulham on August 6th, Salzburg is already in the middle of domestic events. “Liverpool are one of the best teams in the world. It’s a highlight that we’re really looking forward to,” coach Matthias Jaissle looked forward to the showdown. “Of course we take the game seriously and want to show a good performance. But it’s also a test in which we might try one or the other and change things up,” said the German, who played against Austria Vienna in the cup and at the start of the league victorious squad on Saturday has the hit at Sturm Graz in front of their chest.
As is well known, Salzburg and Liverpool are not seeing each other for the first time. In the CL group phase 2019/20, the team coached by Jesse Marsch lost 3: 4 and 0: 2, respectively, the following summer there was a 2: 2 in a friendly atmosphere in Wals-Siezenheim. “The good contact with Liverpool FC has always been maintained after playing in the Champions League and the test match in 2020,” said Salzburg’s managing director Stephan Reiter in a club broadcast.