Without Salah, Liverpool finish Europa League group stage vs Union SG with this XI

Things are going perfectly for Liverpool this season. They became leaders of the Premier League standings last weekend thanks to a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in London, taking advantage of Arsenal's defeat against surprise package Aston Villa.

And that's not all. In the UEFA Europa League, they also achieved the goal they had set themselves. With one game left to play in the group stage of the tournament, they not only qualified for the next round, but also secured first place in Group E. The Reds have 12 points and can no longer be overtaken by Toulouse FC, who have 8. This is of great importance, as the leader of each group advances directly to the round of 16, while the runners-up must first play the round of 32 against the teams that finish third in each Champions League group.

Knowing that their objective is already accomplished and that the priority is next Sunday's match against Manchester United at Anfield Road in the Premier League, coach Jurgen Klopp decided to rest most of the stars of the squad on Thursday in Belgium vs Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. In fact, stars like Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Alexis MacAllister did not even travel to Belgium.

Liverpool's starting lineup will be: Caoimhin Kelleher; Jarell Quansah, Ibrahima Konaté, Conor Bradley, Luke Chambers; Harvey Elliot, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones; Ben Doak, Cody Gakpo, Kaide Gordon. On the bench will be Marcelo, Fabian Mrozek, Joseph Gomez, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Callum Scanlon, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, James McConnell, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Thomas Hill and Louie Koumas.

They still have hope

While it is difficult, Royale Union Saint-Gilloise still have a chance of advancing to the UEFA Europa League round of 32. To do so, they need to beat Liverpool and hope that Toulouse FC lose to LASK in Austria. In that case, the goal difference of both teams will be decisive. That is why coach Alexander Blessin will field the best possible team: Anthony Moris; Kevin MacAllister, Christian Burgess, Koki Machida, Alessio Castro-Montes, Lazare Amani, Noah Sadiki, Loic Lapoussin, Cameron Puertas, Gustaf Nilsson, Mohamed El Amine Amoura.