Liverpool were drawn against Hoffenheim in the Champions League qualifiers, a tie that neither side would have wanted. Both sides finished fourth in their respective leagues last season and would have preferred easier opposition to ensure their progress to the group stages.
As the Reds come to terms with the loss of Adam Lallana for a couple of months and sweat it out over Philippe Coutinho’s future, there is some good news for us as the Bundesliga side have injury concerns of their own.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side are worried about the fitness of their star striker Sandro Wagner ahead of the clash against us. The German was one of their best players last season as he scored 11 league goals and helped them finish fourth.
Hoffenheim were playing a friendly against Italian side Bologna and Wagner had to be taken off just after eight minutes of the game. German magazine Kicker via the Liverpool Echo, claims that the 29-year-old striker could possibly miss the home tie against the Reds and is certain to miss the DFB Pokal clash against lower league side Rot-Weiss Efurt on Saturday.
This comes as a huge blow to the Bundesliga side as Wagner had formed a great partnership with Andrej Kramaric. The duo would have looked to do some damage to our fragile defence in the first leg. The Echo also reported that Klopp’s assistants, Peter Krawietz and Zeljko Buvac, were not with the squad that won against Athletic Bilbao 3-1 but were in Germany to scout Hoffenheim as they played their friendly against Bologna.
Things didn’t work out all that great for the pair as Bologna were reduced to 10 men pretty early on but still, it would have given them some food for thought ahead of the all-important clash. Last season, we did not have any European football to distract us but this time around we will play either in the Champions League or in the Europa League if we fail to beat Hoffenheim in the qualifier.
Making it to the group stages of the Champions League is extremely important as it brings in a lot of money and also makes it an attractive proposition for transfers to come in.
