Overview
Liverpool's difficult situation in the domestic league, which has been clearly shown recently, does not necessarily lead to bad results in the Champions League, except for the matches against Galatasaray and PSV Eindhoven. Arne Slot's team is still holding a big advantage in the race to win a direct ticket to the round of 16.
The reigning Premier League champion is predicted to face many challenges against the attacking Marseille, but Liverpool is the team that "teached" Roberto De Zerbi's team a lesson at Orange Velodrome. Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo took turns scoring, interspersed with an own goal by goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli.
With the fifth victory in 7 matches in the Champions League this season, Liverpool is currently fourth, two points ahead of Barcelona in ninth place. If they continue to win as predicted in the next match, the Anfield home team will avoid the play-offs to advance straight to the round of 16.
Many Liverpool fans probably have not forgotten their last Champions League match at Anfield, where they were defeated by PSV. However, before that defeat, Liverpool had won 16 consecutive matches in the European Cup group stage at home, and this was also just one of their 3 defeats in their last 20 appearances in the Champions League.
However, Arne Slot's team has just suffered a shock in the Premier League when losing to Bournemouth 2-3, painfully closing a 13-match unbeaten streak. This result makes Liverpool still not have any victories in the highest league in England in 2026, and also raises debates about Slot's future.
While Liverpool are looking for a victory to open the way to the round of 16, the away team Qarabag is also hoping to go deep, after creating some notable results against strong opponents in the group stage.
The 12-time champion Azerbaijan team has never passed the Champions League group stage. The rare adventure of the 2017-2018 season also stopped in the qualifiers. But this time, they are in a favorable position to win a play-off spot, regardless of whether they are seeded or not.
Gurbanov's team surprised when they defeated Frankfurt with a score of 3-2 in the seventh match, thereby rising with 10 points. This achievement helps Qarabag rank 18th in the rankings, and also 2 points ahead of Napoli - a team outside the play-off group.
At the present time, Qarabag cannot be sure of anything. Even if they receive a predicted defeat, they may still not have to pay too heavy a price if other results take a favorable direction. And history shows they will need that.
In fact, Qarabag has never won in eight encounters with English representatives in European competitions, losing 7 matches. Last weekend, they were also defeated 0-2 by Kapaz at home in the domestic league.
However, Gurbanov rotated the entire squad with 11 changes in that match, aiming to focus on the away match at Anfield. Qarabag aims for the second most positive result in history against a Premier League club, just two months after the first time he did this - a 2-2 draw against Chelsea.
Personnel situation
Liverpool's defense in the match against Bournemouth almost only had few options left, after Joe Gomez was injured in a collision with goalkeeper Alisson Becker right before Evanilson opened the score.
Gomez's condition for the upcoming match has not yet been determined. However, the risk of head injury may give the English center-back priority rest. Especially in the context that Ibrahima Konate is likely to return after a family incident.
On Qarabag's side, creative midfielder Kady Borges has to sit out due to an unclear extent of injury, and striker Ramil Sheydayev is not qualified to play. However, overall Gurbanov has a fairly energetic force.
Expected lineup:
Alisson, Frimpong, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Jones, Endo, Gakpo, Mac Allister, Ngumoha, Ekitike.
Kochalski, Silva, Mustafazada, Medina, Cafarquliyev, Jankovic, Bicalho, Andrade, Montiel, Zoubir, Duran.
The match between Liverpool and Qarabag takes place at 3:00 AM on January 29 (Vietnam time).
