Liverpool-Manchester United, a hot classic

With their victory on Saturday at Wembley against Manchester City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup (2-3), Liverpool on Tuesday advanced to an unprecedented quadruplet in English football, although Virgil van Dijk, defender of ‘reds. ‘, considering that it is “almost impossible” to achieve this.

Liverpool will face the quintessential classic at Anfield against Manchester United in a pending Premier League match that, whether they win or at least draw, will allow them to be leaders while waiting for City, who now have the advantage. on the score, which Brighton receive at the Etihad on Wednesday in another delayed game.

Both Liverpool and City have seven left to play in a tight championship final. In addition, Jürgen Klopp’s team won the Carabao Cup (League Cup) in February, last week they agreed after eliminating Benfica in the semifinals of the Champions League where they will have Villarreal as their rival and also qualify for the FA Cup final.

In the Premier League, Liverpool saw their run of ten straight wins on their visit to the Etihad stop the previous day, but the 2-2 win against City seemed like a victory as the match opened and now the other Manchester team awaited, a United, of which many have also played today. Fifth in the table, the ‘red devils’, with six games to play, are three points behind Tottenham, fourth and that’s the score of Champions League positions, so they don’t have to leave Anfield empty.

Cristiano Ronaldo will be Liverpool’s main threat. At 35 years old, the Portuguese crack came into a great moment of form in the classic after scoring a spectacular hat trick on Saturday against bottom of Norwich (3-2). Yesterday, however, he reported bad news: the death of one of the two twin boys he was expecting from his partner Georgina Rodríguez.

“It’s a big game between two of the biggest clubs in the world,” said Klopp, who is expecting stiff resistance from United despite their patchy record. “They will go for it all, it will be 90 intense minutes,” predicted the German coach, who is not worried that Mohamed Salah has not scored a goal since Feb. 15 (11 games).

Rangnick has beaten his compatriot Klopp in the past

Klopp has praised his compatriot Ralf Rangnick, who has been temporarily at United since December and he will face for the first time in England, although they have done so 13 times in Germany. In fact, the current Liverpool coach has only twice lost to him in front of Mainz and Borussia Dortmund when his team -mate was in charge of Schalke and Hoffenheim.

Rangnick was frightened yesterday when one of his figures, Bruno Fernandes, had an accident this morning on a secondary road as he was driving his car towards the sports city of Carrington to train, but the Portuguese was not hurt to the point that He was normal. participate in the preparatory session and start today.

Rangnick, who will go on without Raphaël Varane, Luke Shaw, Fred, Scot McTominay and Edinson Cavani, asked his players for more defensive solidity, without hesitation on their Achilles ’heel throughout the season:“ It’s necessary “Let’s be more compact, find. the balance, more aggressive. If we play at a highest level we can win three points”. Liverpool, who humiliated United at Old Trafford in October (0-5) with Salah’s hat trick, are favorites but a classic of this rivalry the predictions don’t count.

Likely lineups

Anfield, 9:00 p.m.

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara; Salah, Firmino or Diogo Jota and Mané

Instructor: Jurgen Klopp

Manchester United: De Gea; Dalot, Lindelof, Maguire, Alex Telles; Pogba, Matic, Bruno Fernandes; Elanga, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sancho

Coach: Ralf Rangnick

Referee: Martin Atkinson