RB Leipzig vs Liverpool LIVE: Champions League team news and lineups as Szoboszlai and Mac Allister start

“It’s really a special match, a dream come true,” says RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons who was speaking at yesterday’s press conference.

“I can’t wait to face them and make a good evening out of it. You dream of these games as a little kid. I get goosebumps when I think about it.”

Given the form Liverpool have been in so far this year it is hard to look beyond them, although Leipzig will have the home advantage and a desperation to get some points in the Champions League.

RB Leipzig 1-2 Liverpool.

Before both joined Liverpool, Ibrahima Konate made 95 appearances for RB Leipzig between 2017 and 2021, while Dominik Szoboszlai scored 20 goals in 91 matches for the club, winning the German cup in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

RB Leipzig are unbeaten and have 17 points after seven Bundesliga games, a new club record. They have conceded only twice in the league, keeping six clean sheets.

Their only two defeats this season have both come in Europe and the Champions League; away at Atletico Madrid and at home to Juventus.

Dominik Szoboszlai is working hard to improve his goalscoring return but insisted it was more important that he is doing a “dirty job” for Arne Slot’s Liverpool side.

Last season, Szoboszlai chipped in with eight goals in 55 appearances for the Reds but so far this season his only strike came in the 3-1 Champions League win over AC Milan in September, and that has led to complaints from sections of the Liverpool support and, sometimes, his own manager.

The 23-year-old said he is putting in the hours on the training ground to improve but he is more interested in the team’s results than his own numbers.

Mohamed Salah should make his 69th European Cup appearance for Liverpool, to move him into third place on the club’s all-time appearance list in the competition, behind Jamie Carragher (91) and Steven Gerrard (87).

If Arne Slot’s side win this game they will become the first team in the club’s history to win each of their opening six away fixtures of a season.

The Reds could record an eighth consecutive victory in all competitions for the first time since March 2022 (a run of 12).

“I think everybody as a player wants to play those games,” said Cody Gakpo when asked about the tough fixtures Liverpool have coming up with Leipzig tonight and Arsenal at the weekend.

He told Liverpoolfc.com: “When you are at a big club, as Liverpool [is], you have the opportunity to get these games in the Champions League and in the league. We are all looking forward to it.

“I enjoy it. I think it’s the best feeling to just play games – maybe not so much training but more games.

“I think every player likes to get as much minutes as possible and to play at the highest level, to show yourself again and again. That’s what we all try to do every game.”

Liverpool very much enjoy playing away in the European top-flight and have a strong record when on the road. The Reds have won 14 of their last 19 away Champions League matches, including nine of the last 11.

These two teams were drawn together for the only previous time in the 2020-21 Champions League campaign.

They met in the first knockout round and the Reds won 2-0 in both legs, which were held in Budapest due to Covid-19 restrictions. Will Liverpool emulate that result tonight?