At 3 a.m. Beijing time this Friday, Liverpool will face Atalanta in the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinals.
Liverpool begin pre-match training tonight at 8pm GMT and will fly to Italy after training. A total of 22 outfield players participated in the training, including youngsters Danse, Clark, Bajcetic, McConaughey and more. Alisson and Alexander-Arnold, who had just returned from the last game, also participated in training as normal today.
Here's a look at the data:
• In the history of the Europa League and its predecessor, the UEFA Cup, there have been 132 occasions in which the away team has won the first leg by three goals or more, and has never been reversed.
--Liverpool suffered a 3-0 defeat to Barcelona in the first leg of the 2019 Champions League semi-finals, then came back from behind to advance 4-0 at home in the second leg. The Liverpool players who played in that 4-0 game are expected to play in Atalanta this Friday night: Alisson, Van Dijk, Gomez, Robertson.
--Liverpool's last trip to Atalanta was in the Champions League group stage in November 2020, when Liverpool thrashed 5-0 and Jota scored a hat-trick.
• Jota has played in 12 Europa League games and although only five of them have started, he has scored nine goals (six at Wolves and three at Liverpool). Since the Europa League was restructured in 2009, Jota has averaged one goal per 64 minutes among all players who have played at least five games.
--With all five strikers already back, Jurgen Klopp has a choice to make, with Nunez the most important to take his chances. According to OPTA, he has scored just nine goals in 45 major scoring opportunities in all competitions this season, with a 20% conversion rate that ranks last among all players in Europe's top five leagues.
--Atalanta's progression would be their first European semi-finals since the 1987-88 European Cup Winners' Cup.
--Atalanta led Paris Saint-Germain to the 90th minute in the quarterfinals of the Champions League in August 2020, when it was reduced to a single-legged knockout round due to the pandemic, only to be eliminated by conceding two goals in three minutes.
- Atalanta have created a whopping 3.2 expected goals (xG) since Anfield last week, setting the highest expected goals set by an away team at home since Manchester City's 4-1 win over Liverpool in February 2021 (3.47 expected goals).
--Liverpool have won three of their last four visits to Italy in all competitions (one defeat), equivalent to the previous 14 wins from an Italian side (three wins, three draws, eight defeats), and Liverpool lost 4-1 to Napoli last time they visited Italy (September 2022).
--Atalanta led 2-0 in Serie A on Tuesday night, drawing 2-2 with Verona and are currently sixth in Serie A, eight points off the Champions League zone.
-- Atalanta's only home win over an English side was a 3-0 win over another Merseyside side Everton in September 2017, while the only home defeat to a Premier League side was a 5-0 defeat to Liverpool in 2020. They also played two home games against English sides, drawing with Manchester City (2019) and Manchester United (2021).
--Atalanta have lost just one of their previous 16 home games in the Europa League (UEFA Cup) (10 wins, five draws), in the second leg of the quarter-finals in 2021-22, losing 2-0 to Leipzig.
--The last time Atalanta won both legs of the Europa League was against Bayer Leverkusen two years ago.
-- A Liverpool defeat would be the first time since they were eliminated by Celta Vigo in the 1998-99 season that they have lost both legs in the Europa League (UEFA Cup).
• Jurgen Klopp's side have won just three of their last eight games in all competitions (two draws, three defeats), six of their previous seven games, and another extra-time winner of Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final.
-- OPTA's prediction: Liverpool, despite a 46.4% chance of beating Atalanta away, have only a 6% slim chance of reversing the aggregate score to qualify for the semi-finals, with Atalanta having a 94% chance of progressing.