Karlsruher vs Liverpool

Liverpool’s pre-season campaign gets underway at the BBBank Wildpark as they take on Germany’s second-tier side Karlsruher.

Karlsruher finished a whopping 20 points off the Bundesliga promotion places in last season’s 2. Bundesliga, but their results during the off-season indicate a bright future. A brace of overwhelming victories over sub-par rivals Staufenberg and Ketsch by an aggregate score of 32-0 fired the Germans to a flying pre-season start. They have since racked up three wins in four summer friendlies, all of which saw them score 3+ goals, barring a thumping 3-0 defeat at the hands of Viktoria Plzen. That result marked Karlsruher’s first scoring blank since a 1-0 home loss to Paderborn in January, suggesting their appearance on the scoreboard is a near-certainty.

Meanwhile, Liverpool failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since Jurgen Klopp’s maiden season at Anfield, finishing four points adrift of fourth-placed Newcastle United in a topsy-turvy 2022/23 Premier League season. The ‘Reds’ threw a spectacle on the final day, sharing the spoils with relegation boys Southampton in a memorable 4-4 draw at St Mary’s Stadium. That stalemate at least sees the Merseyside heavyweights come into proceedings unbeaten in their last 11 matches (W7, D4). Klopp’s men netted multiple goals in 64% of those games. Liverpool’s scoring rate can only increase after the summer acquisitions of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.