Liverpool Unique Challenge: 2 Games, 2 Days,2 Different Continents-2 Different Squads?
English Premier League leaders and European champions Liverpool will play two games on two continents in 24 hours after the date for their Carabao Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa was confirmed.
Liverpool’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa has been fixed for 17 December – just 24 hours before the Reds play in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.
The club will most certainly field two entirely different squads to cope with the unique challenge of playing two games, in two separate competitions, in the space of 24 hours.
It is not yet clear how Liverpool will split their squad and whether coach Jurgen Klopp will be present at both games.
“We don’t know exactly how we do it, we have an idea but it’s too early to speak about it. We had to make a decision, we made that decision because all the other alternatives were more problems than solutions and didn’t work out.” said Klopp.
Earlier on, manager Jurgen Klopp had threatened to quit the Carabao Cup if the EFL did not accommodate his team’s packed fixture schedule.
However, Liverpool have backed down and the club says they will “utilise two playing squads simultaneously”, which will see one play in the Carabao Cup and the other feature in the Club World Cup semi-finals on Wednesday December 18.
A club statement read: “Liverpool Football Club can confirm our Carabao Cup quarter-final tie at Aston Villa will take place on Tuesday December 17, 2019.”
“The club would like to take this opportunity to underline that while this is not an ideal scenario, it is an outcome which was arrived at with the best interests of the competition, our fellow clubs and ourselves as the sole motivating factor.
By Gerald Dandah
