Liverpool vs Qarabag live: Latest score and updates as injury-hit hosts face Champions League clash

When asked why he picked Ryan Gravenberch at centre-back, Slot replies: “There weren’t that many options. As is it so many times, managers make decisions based on how the other teams plays and what they think their strengths and weaknesses are.

“The way they usually press would mean our right centre-back could be influential in our build-up.

“But Ryan has pace, and now he has to show his defensive qualities, but it’s not only about who’s playing as a centre-back,” explains the Dutchman.

Since Arne Slot took charge of Liverpool in 2024, the Reds are the team with the highest win percentage in the Champions League, winning 13 of their 17 European games (76.5 per cent).

They might have lost to PSV last time out, but Liverpool have only lost consecutive matches on one previous occasion across 117 home games, with those two coming between October and December 2009.

Here’s what Liverpool boss Arne Slot had to say on the threat carried by tonight’s opponents:

“I think they’re quite comparable to what we play in the Premier League, a direct style of play.

“I don’t mean long balls, but balls in behind. Fast attackers, I think that’s also a reason they have 10 points.

“These attackers, these forward players, have a lot of pace. We need to make sure we have the ball because we have so many defensive players on the pitch and second of all, because they are a real threat if they have possession,” he added as he spoke to TNT Sports.

In the buildup to Arsenal’s trip to Inter last week, those at their London Colney training base couldn’t help notice a shift in mood. There was no tension, it was all rather relaxed. A largely second-string team then carried that onto the pitch by breezing through a 3-1 away win against last season’s finalists. Long-time club insiders couldn’t help contrasting to 20 or even 15 years ago.

“No pressure going to the San Siro for a Champions League game – imagine that.”

Needless to say, it wasn’t like that for the Premier League games either side of that win. And while some of that may be distinctive to Arsenal’s first place and a complex about winning the title, it is actually a common feeling.

Qarabag lost seven of their first eight meetings with English sides, but they did draw 2-2 in most recent one in the Champions League against Chelsea on matchday four.

The Azerbaijani side have played four previous matches away from home against English sides, losing all four by an aggregate score of 13-1.

Here’s how the table looks going into the final matchday:

Unsurprisingly, Liverpool and Qarabag will meet for the first time in European competition tonight.

All three previous meetings between sides from England and Azerbaijan in the Champions League have been between Qarabag and Chelsea (two wins for Chelsea, one draw).

It is not the whole picture, though; it cannot be, when they are sixth in the Premier League, 14 points off the pace. A long unbeaten run came to an end at Bournemouth on Saturday. It brought a chorus of criticism: the “outside noise”, as Arne Slot called it. Much of it is concentrated around him. A title-winning manager may have lost the backing of some Liverpool supporters; it can seem so at such times. And if part of the issue is that too many of those 13 undefeated matches were actually draws that produced frustration, Slot is aware that if victories bring respite, setbacks prompt another outcry. Which, in itself, is revealing. The soundtrack can reflect a dissatisfaction with him.

There are 11 changes made by Qarabag boss Gurban Gurbanov, who replaces the entire starting XI that lost in the league to Kapaz last week!