Liverpool make their UEFA Europa League debut vs LASK with this starting lineup

Liverpool failed to qualify for the Champions League last season, as they finished fifth in the Premier League standings and only the top four teams qualified for the tournament. That is why this season they will have to play in the second most important competition on the continent, the UEFA Europa League.

There they will be one of the main favorites, as they will face opponents who are at a lower level than the Champions League participants. However, coach Jürgen Klopp knows that they cannot relax and that every game will be a new challenge. The Reds are in Group E alongside Royale Union Saint-Gilloise from Belgium, Toulouse FC from France and LASK Linz from Austria. The latter will be their first opponents, this Thursday at the Raiffeisen Arena.

For this match, the manager decided that most of the team's stars will rest, so the starting lineup will be: Caoimhin Kelleher; Stefan Bajcetic, Virgil Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, Konstantinos Tsimikas; Harvey Elliott, Ryan Gravenberch, Wataru Endo; Ben Doak, Darwin Nuñez, Luis Diaz. In addition, the substitutes will be Alisson, Vitezslav Jaros, Joseph Gomez, Jarell Quansah, Joël Matip, Andrew Robertson, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota.

LASK Linz will play in an international competition again after two years. The last time was in the 2021/22 season, when they were eliminated in the round of 16 of the Conference League against Slavia Prague. To face Liverpool this Thursday, coach Thomas Sageder chose this XI: Tobias Lawal; Philipp Ziereis, Andres Andrade, Felix Luckeneder; Florian Flecker, Branko Jovičić, Sascha Horvath, Rene Renner; Marin Ljubičić, Robert Žulj, Elias Havel.

They want another international title

Liverpool are one of the most winning clubs in Europe. In their history they have won the Champions League 6 times (the last time was in 2019) and the UEFA Europa League 3 times (the last time was in 2001, when it's name was UEFA Cup). In the 2015/2016 season they lost the final of this tournament against Sevilla, so now they will have the opportunity to try once again.