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Manchester United and Liverpool were in European action this week, but the latter is expected to arrive fresher for Sunday’s clash despite their game two days later.
United were eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday after losing 1-0 at home to Bayern Munich. Erik ten Hag’s side faced an uphill battle after consecutive defeats kicked off the group stages and in the end, they finished bottom of Group A and will have no continental football beyond Christmas.
Ten Hag will have been reassured to know that his team played 48 hours ahead of Liverpool, who also had to travel to Belgium for their final Europa League game against Union Saint-Gilloise. Those marginal gains are likely to prove very important for the weekend. However, Jurgen Klopp has been granted a luxury that his opponent on the bench did not have.
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Having won 4 of their first five games at an organisational level, Liverpool had already secured the most sensible spot and an instant position in the Europa League’s circular draw of 16. And so, Klopp was able to make a significant rotation for what was necessarily a dead game in which they lost 2. -1.
Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk were all given the night off completely, while Luis Diaz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Kostas Tsimikas were all on the bench but unused. Darwin Nunez and Ryan Gravenberch came off the bench but had minutes carefully managed.
The importance of United’s game on Tuesday forced Ten Hag to play at full speed and he lost regular starter Harry Maguire in the first half. Turns out Luke Shaw had a problem too, but he’ll be available over the weekend. .
However, it does mean that United will arrive at Anfield on Sunday much more tired and with less recovery time than those likely to start against Liverpool. Ten Hag could opt to inject some freshness into his team, with the likes of Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford absent in midweek, but the core will have played 90 minutes a few days earlier.