There isn’t much to connect Liverpool and RB Leipzig ahead of their first-ever meeting in the UEFA Champions League last 16 tie. The Reds’ opposition is so new that Jurgen Klopp has never managed against them before.
Leipzig, backed by energy drink sponsors Red Bull, were only formed in 2009 but have climbed their way up the German football pyramid and become Bundesliga title challengers. As yet, they haven’t been able to break Bayern Munich’s stranglehold on the league but that very much remains an ambition.
To go from being created as a football club to European regulars in around a decade is quite remarkable. However, the UEFA Champions League betting on the first leg in Germany on 16 February sides with Liverpool who are among the favourites to win the competition overall.
As part of the Red Bull portfolio of teams, Leipzig have close ties with the Salzburg and New York franchises. This allows them to source players who perform in other countries and move them around their empire.
Despite their relative success, Leipzig know that every footballer has their price. Just ask Guinea midfielder Naby Keita who developed at Red Bull Salzburg, then played for them in the Bundesliga and was sold to Liverpool for a reported £48,000,000 in 2017 for the 2018-19 season onwards.
Keita has the inside track on what the Reds’ opponents are like. For his part, Klopp signed Slovenia midfielder Kevin Kampl from Leipzig towards the end of his tenure at Borussia Dortmund, but the move didn’t really work out and he eventually returned to his old club via Bayer Leverkusen.
Liverpool won’t have to worry about the prolific Germany forward Timo Werner troubling their injury-hit defence. Leipzig cashed in on him when Chelsea came calling over the summer, so he is a problem for another day in domestic Premier League action rather than Europe.
Despite losing Werner, Leipzig still had enough about them to progress from a UEFA Champions League group which contained French Ligue 1 champions PSG and Liverpool’s bitter rivals Manchester United. The fact that they beat the latter to secure the second spot in the pool, winning four of the six group games, means they cannot be underestimated.
Klopp’s crew came top of an easier group on paper, although they still dropped points to plucky Italian Serie A side Atalanta. Despite that, they are taking on the team with the best defence in the Bundesliga after 16 matches.
Leipzig were the only team in the German top flight to average conceding less than a goal per game in that time. This has been down to the fine form of another of their prized assets, France centre-back Dayot Upamecano, while former Liverpool goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi has been key in keeping seven Bundesliga clean sheets.
As the Leipzig defence hasn’t been so formidable in Europe, averaging two goals per game conceded, and they now meet one of the strongest attacks in the Premier League, it is easy to see why the Reds are fancied to progress from the tie.
