There’s festive period fixture congestion and then there’s the egregious workload that Liverpool FC will soon be dealing with. Now it’s come to the point that the Reds will literally have two different competitions on the same day!
The Merseyside club are through to the EFL Cup quarterfinals, where they will meet fellow Premier League club Aston Villa. Having won the UEFA Champions League this season, they are part of the FIFA Club World Cup tournament, and they have a fixture in that competition the very same day.
The club confirmed on their website, via an official statement, their intent to field two different teams on that date- December 17. LFC also said that they explored other options, but that none of them yielded an alternative scenario superior to this one.
“Liverpool Football Club can confirm our Carabao Cup quarterfinal tie at Aston Villa will take place on Tuesday Dec. 17, 2019,” a statement on the club’s website readS.
“As a result, we will be utilising two playing squads simultaneously, with one squad participating in the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar and another in the Carabao Cup.
“The club would like to take this opportunity to underline that while this is not an ideal scenario, it is an outcome which was arrived at with the best interests of the competition, our fellow clubs and ourselves as the sole motivating factor.
“We would like to thank the EFL for their efforts to accommodate us and we can confirm alternative dates were discussed, but ultimately none were considered suitable without compromising the scheduling of the competition itself or placing an undue strain on our playing staff.”
After the victory at home over Arsenal in the previous round, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp joked? (threatened? threatingly joked? Jokingly threatened?) to forfeit the League Cup if they couldn’t find a proper date on the schedule to play the match.
Now it remains to be seen how LFC will approach these two competitions, and which one will become a higher priority?
And do they do one stronger team and one weaker one?
Or is it a mixed squad?
Liverpool FC at Manchester City FYIs
Kickoff: Sun Nov 10 4:30 BST, City of Manchester Stadium
Google Result Probability: Manchester City 38%, Draw 27%, Liverpool FC win 35%
Odds via Betway: Liverpool FC 6/4 Draw 13/5 Manchester City 17/10
Form Guide: Manchester City WWWLW Liverpool FC WWDWW
Prediction: Manchester City 2, Liverpool FC 2
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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