Liverpool’s players reported for duty on July 12, as the Reds begin their pre-season preparations with a training camp in the Austrian state of Salzburg.
There were smiles all round as Jurgen Klopp and his players were reunited some seven weeks after the conclusion of the last Premier League campaign. They 2019-20 champions have big ambitions this season, as they look to wrestle back their crown from Manchester City.
Goal brings you all you need to know about Liverpool’s plans for pre-season and who will be involved.
*Thirty-minute mini-games
**Two sixty-minute games
Liverpool got their pre-season friendly schedule under way in rather unusual fashion, starting on Tuesday July 20 with two 30-minute ‘mini-games’, against Austrian Second Division outfit FC Wacker Innsbruck and German Bundesliga side Stuttgart, whom they faced in a 90-minute fixture last summer.
Both games, played behind-closed-doors, finished 1-1. Divock Origi scored the Reds’ goal against Wacker, before a completely different XI drew with Stuttgart, courtesy of Sadio Mane’s equaliser.
Liverpool then beat another Bundesliga side, Klopp’s old club Mainz, 1-0 courtesy of a late own-goal at the 3,500-capacity Greisbergers Betten-Arena in the town of Grodig on Friday July 23.
Next came another test against German opposition, Hertha Berlin, at the 15,000-capacity Tivoli Stadium in Innsbruck on Thursday July 29, with Liverpool losing 4-3. However, there was a silver lining as Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez made their long-awaited return from injuries.
After that, the Reds moved to Evian, France for the final part of their camp. There, they beat Serie A side Bologna in two 60-minute matches, 2-0 and 1-0, on Thursday August 5.
Liverpool then played two games at Anfield in the space of 24 hours, drawing 1-1 against Athletic Bilbao on Sunday August 8 before hosting Osasuna on Monday August 9, where they ran out 3-1 winners. Both games were played with the stadium at 75 per cent capacity.
Klopp named an initial 34-man squad for the training camp, with a mix of first-teamers, fringe players and young prospects all involved.
The likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Trent Alexander-Arnold all reported on day one, along with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, all of whom are returning from long-term injury.
Welcome back, lads! 👋🔴 #LFCPreSeason pic.twitter.com/TiwN4Is7pY
Other first-teamers include Curtis Jones, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kostas Tsimikas, Nat Phillips and James Milner, while there are opportunities for returning loan players such as Harvey Elliott, and Loris Karius, who last played for the Reds in 2018. Takumi Minamino is also present, having spent the second half of last season with Southampton.
Others to keep an eye on include teenage 16-year-old winger Kaide Gordon, signed from Derby in January, home-grown midfielder Tyler Morton and young full-backs Conor Bradley and Owen Beck, who have been drafted up from the U18s.
Diogo Jota, Andy Robertson, Thiago Alcantara and Xherdan Shaqiri all joined up for week three in Austria, with Jordan Henderson and the Brazilian trio of Alisson Becker, Roberto Firmino and Fabinho met up with the squad at the final part of the training camp in France.
Yes. New signing Ibrahima Konate is part of the squad, having completed his £36million ($50m) switch from RB Leipzig at the end of May.
The centre-back is viewed as a key capture for the Reds, though fans will be hoping there are more arrivals between now and the end of the summer window.
Parisian chic 🇫🇷 @IbrahimaKonate_ 🤩 pic.twitter.com/nK74IZmnJa
The Reds get their Premier League campaign under way on Saturday August 14, when they travel to face newly-promoted Norwich City at Carrow Road (kick-off 5.30pm UK time).
That has echoes of the title-winning 2019-20 season, when the Reds defeated the Canaries 4-1 at Anfield in their opening fixture.
Having travelled to Norfolk, Klopp’s side then enjoy back-to-back home games against Burnley (Saturday August 21, 12.30pm kick off) and Chelsea (Saturday August 28, 5.30pm).
See Liverpool’s full 2021-22 Premier League fixture list
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