Liverpool’s upcoming pre-season game will see them take on the formidable Bayern Munich at the Singapore National Stadium on Wednesday, scheduled for 5 pm IST. This will be the first time they meet since Liverpool eliminated Bayern from the Champions League Round of 16 back in March 2019. The match will be aired live on LFC TV and will be contested for the prestigious Singapore Trophy 2023.
Pre-season so far
Both the teams have secured a victory in their last match with Liverpool scoring 4 past Leicester and Bayern winning 1-0 against Japanese opposition Kawasaki Frontale.
Liverpool showed a lot of improvement in their last match against the Championship side. While they have consistently scored four goals in pre-season games, repeating that feat against the German champions will certainly be challenging. The first half saw some incredible performances from the starting XI except a few defensive mishaps. Darwin Nunez, Bobby Clark and Diogo Jota all scored in the first half. The second half was very much one-sided after Ben Doak scored the fourth. Talk of the town were new signings Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai as both put in brilliant performances.
Transfer Speculations: Liverpool’s Pursuit of Romeo Lavia and Bayern’s Hunt for Kane
Liverpool are also hopeful to secure their third summer signing, Romeo Lavia after they have submitted an improved bid to Southampton. Jurgen Klopp is in desperate need of a defensive midfielder as over the week both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho have left for Saudi. The German manager would like to have Lavia play at least one pre-season match before featuring for Liverpool in competitive matches.
Bayern under Tuchel have also had a mixed bag of a pre-season. After scoring 27 goals past ninth-tier FC Rottach-Egern, Bayern failed to show that sort of dominance in their upcoming matches. Disappointingly for fans, they won’t witness a face-off between the two African Player of the Year winners, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane. Sadio Mane has bid farewell to Bayern Munich and joined AL Nassr, leaving a void in the squad and adding excitement to their upcoming games.
Tuchel has said that fatigue is one of the reasons for Bayern’s poor and underwhelming performance and with them playing Liverpool only a few days later their last match, it is expected that the English side will pick up the win. The German giants are also actively searching for a striker in the transfer market with their eyes locked on Harry Kane with personal terms already being reportedly agreed upon. They are also looking to bring in Kyle Walker after securing the signings of Kim Min-Jae and Raphaël Guerreiro.
Predicted Lineups
Liverpool
Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara and Conor Bradley didn’t travel to Singapore for further recovery. And if past matches are anything to go by Klopp would deploy two teams with youngsters getting enough time to shine.
Liverpool predicted starting lineup: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Jones, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nunez and Diaz.
While players such as Kelleher, Matip, Gomez, Quansah, Clark, Elliot, Doak, Jota and Gakpo are also expected to feature later on in the match
Bayern Munich
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and new arrival Raphael Guerreiro are all dealing with their injuries and are set to miss out. Even though the Swiss goalkeeper might be on his way to Inter Milan but Yans Sommer is expected to start the match against Liverpool.
Bayern predicted starting lineup: Sommer; Mazraoui, De Ligt, Upamecano, Davies; Kimmich, Laimer; Sane, Musiala, Coman; Tel.
