Official: Liverpool confirm dates for two high-profile friendlies in December

Liverpool confirms dates for fixtures against Olympique Lyonnais and AC Milan in December

According to Liverpoolfc.com, Liverpool have decided to move to Dubai for the mid-season break and would be facing French side Olympique Lyonnais and Serie A Champions AC Milan as warm-up fixtures in the tournament termed Dubai Super Cup.

With the FIFA World Cup around the corner, the domestic leagues have come to a halt with the games set to resume during the end stages of December.

Seven Liverpool players in Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Darwin Nunez, Fabinho and club captain Jordan Henderson.

The rest of the first-team personnel have a usual mid-season break and hence it’s very important for the players not going to the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be fit for games once the league restarts.

Arsenal are the fourth side to be a part of it but the two teams from the same league are not expected to play each other in the mini-tournament.

The two friendlies will be played at Al-Maktoum stadium before Liverpool travel back to the country to face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on 22nd December before the league officially restarts.

Liverpool finished the first part of the season slowly but strongly and would be looking to build on it once the league games are back, with the team currently some way off the top four.

It is essential for us to attain at least the UEFA Champions League qualification for the club to stand any chance of attaining top talent targets in the summer.

Hence, the second half of the season holds a lot of importance and it would be essential for first-team players to regain match fitness with quality opposition from France and Italy, it would give us the perfect platform for the second half.

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It’s also a chance for those who aren’t going to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar to prepare for the season ahead. Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota have been sidelined for a while with their respective injuries but it remains to be seen if they will be back in time for these two matches.

Fans would remember Ibrahima Konate’s injury in an oddly-organised ‘pre-season’ friendly by the club that took place after the first league game of the season had been played. They would not want a repeat of that and hope players take it easy against Lyon and Milan.