After a clash of fixtures, Liverpool face a crazy 22 hours having to play two games in the Carabao Cup and the Club World Cup
In football and in particular, in England, managers constantly complain about the busy fixtures lists. Across Europe’s other top leagues, they all have a break over the Christmas period, whereas here there are more games than ever during this time.
This is a problem right now for Liverpool. After winning the Champions League final against Spurs in May, they qualified for the Club World Cup. This is a competition between the confederation cup winners from each continent plus a team from the host country. The competition started last week with Liverpool joining the competition in the semi-finals, which are tomorrow.
On top of this, they have also qualified for the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup. The game, which is tonight, is only 22 hours before they are due to kick off in their Club World Cup semi-final. Liverpool tried to get the game re-arranged but this was possible, so how are they going to do it?
🔴🔴 MATCHDAY 🔴🔴 #CarabaoCup quarter-final day 💪 #AVLLIV pic.twitter.com/Kis6Mes6kG
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 17, 2019
Liverpool to split-squad
Due to Liverpool not being able to re-arrange their quarter-final with Aston Villa they have had to send two different teams. The side that has gone to Qatar is the first team with all the senior players in it. Harvey Elliott and Rhian Brewster have been named in that squad but have stayed behind.
They are going to be in the squad that travels to Villa Park. This will be made up of youth team players including Brewster and Elliott. The plan is for the two first-team youngsters to fly out to Qatar tomorrow to join up with the rest of the squad. Liverpool’s under-23 manager Neil Critchley will also be the manager for this game. FIFA has said that Liverpool does not need all their squad to be in Qatar at the time of the semi-final. This is why the two forwards are allowed to go out and join the first team tomorrow.
As a result, Villa go into this game as the favourites on Betway at 2/11 to qualify. Liverpool are at 15/4 to qualify and a huge 12/1 to win the competition. This could be worth a bet as if they get through, they will then have all their first-team squad back. Villa are at 10/1 to win the Carabao Cup with the likes of Man United, Man City, Everton and Leicester still in the competition.
