Two European giants will meet at the Singapore National Stadium for Liverpool’s final overseas friendly of the summer.
The Reds cruised to a comfortable 4-0 victory over relegated Leicester in the first fixture of their Southeast Asia tour, but will face a significant step up in class as they face a team who have just captured their 10th consecutive Bundesliga title.
Bayern Munich are a club that Jurgen Klopp knows particularly well, having been the last manager to break the monopoly of German football by winning back-to-back league titles with Borussia Dortmund in 2011 and 2012.
He fell to defeat against Wednesday’s opposition 12 months later, in the Champions League final at Wembley, but later got the better of the German giants, as he guided Liverpool to a 3-1 victory at the Allianz Arena in 2019.
Let’s take a closer look at the game and some of the key stories.
No reunion for Sadio
Those hoping to see Sadio Mane face his former teammates will be left disappointed, with the forward set to become the latest high-profile name to join the Saudi Pro League.
Thomas Tuchel conceded in his pre-match press conference that Mane didn’t reach his “full potential” at Bayern, and accepted that he was “hurt” by the shortcomings.
Liverpool’s former No. 10 will join ex-colleagues Jordan Henderson and Fabinho in the Middle East and will sadly play no part in Wednesday’s friendly, having departed Anfield 12 months ago.
Forwards to keep firing?
There may be some defensive issues to iron out, but there have been no shortage of goals at the other end for the Reds, so far this summer.
Liverpool have scored 12 in their first three pre-season fixtures, four of which have from Darwin Nunez in just 135 minutes of football.
The manager will be delighted with what he has seen going forward, but will simultaneously be hoping to replicate the clean sheet his side earned against Leicester.
Selection headaches
Following the 4-4 draw with Greuther Furth, Klopp revealed that it would be the last time we would see wholesale changes at half time this pre-season.
This turned out not to be true, with all 10 outfield players making way for those on the bench, and Alisson replacing Caoimhin Kelleher just 15 minutes later.
With the start of the Premier League season fast approaching, it will be interesting to see if the bulk of the minutes are dedicated to those who will likely start against Chelsea, on August 13.
We’re expecting several players to get at least an hour of ‘minutes in the legs’.
Look out, too, for Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai starting together.
Expected XI: Alisson, Alexander-Arnod, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Jones, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Salah, Nunez, Jota
How to watch
The game gets underway at 12.30pm (BST), 7.30pm local time in Singapore.
You can watch the entire game live on LFCTV here, or you can follow the action with us on This Is Anfield’s liveblog, available on our website shortly before kick-off.
