Liverpool play their 397th game in European competition tonight, needing a point against Salzburg to guarantee a place in the last 16 in the Champions League. Here are all the best stats ahead of the game.
Permutations
Liverpool will progress to the knockout stage with a win or draw or if they lose and Napoli also lose at home to Genk. A 5-4 defeat would also be good enough for the Reds as they would defeat Salzburg on goal difference in their head-to-head.
Salzburg will be through if they defeat Liverpool and Napoli do not beat Genk. If Napoli win then Salzburg must defeat Liverpool by a better scoreline than the 4-3 by which they lost to the Merseysiders on Matchday 2.
This is the third successive season Liverpool have needed a result in Matchday 6 to progress. The previous two were at Anfield when they won both, needing to beat Napoli last year and avoid a defeat to Spartak Moscow in 2017.
History
Liverpool have never failed to qualify from a group in any European competition with as many points as they have now (10).
The Champions League holders have only failed to make the knockout stage of the competition the following season once in this format – Chelsea in 2012-13 finished third in their group.
Salzburg are the fourth club from Austria to face the Reds following Austria Vienna, Swarovski Tirol and AK Graz.
Number game
Jordan Henderson could play his 50th European game for Liverpool. He would become the 21st player to reach the landmark for the club and the 12th Englishman.
Three Liverpool players have started all five group games: Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Andy Robertson have also featured in all five.
Both sides
Mane played for Salzburg from 2012-14, scoring 45 goals in 87 games in all competitions. He scored three hat-tricks for the Austrians and was sent off four times.
Naby Keita played 81 games for this evening’s opponents (2014-16) scoring 20 times.
He and Mane appeared on the pitch together five times before Mane joined Southampton.
Game of goals
Mo Salah has scored 19 European goals for Liverpool, all in the Champions League, with Mane’s 18 goals also coming in this competition. Roberto Firmino has scored all but one of his 16 goals in Europe for the club in the Champions League.
Salah could become only the second Reds player, after Steven Gerrard, to net 20 goals in Europe’s premier competition. Gerrard hit 30 in total.
Mane has scored 30 goals for Liverpool so far in 2019. He is one of only 11 Liverpool players to achieve the feat and it is only the 17th time in the club’s history the landmark has been achieved.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has scored three goals in his last three Champions League games and five in his 11 European appearances for the Reds.
Eleven different Liverpool players have scored in the last 6 games in league and cup.
How far we’ve come
The Reds last progressed from a Champions League group for the third successive season in 2008-09.
Liverpool have won each of the last 31 games in which they have scored the first goal, including the penalty shoot-out victory over Arsenal in the League Cup.
The Reds are unbeaten in league and cup in the last 45 games (42 wins, three draws) when scoring the first goal since losing to Chelsea at Anfield in the League Cup last season.
Jurgen Klopp‘s men have won 35 of their last 40 games in league and cup including the penalty shoot-out victories over Chelsea in the European Super Cup and Arsenal in the League Cup.
Austria lookout
Salzburg are aiming to win the domestic league this season for a seventh successive time and currently lead LASK by two points after 17 games.
The Austrian champions have lost only one of the last 20 home games in Europe, that being their last outing at the hands of Napoli (2-3).
After Matchday 5, Salzburg have scored 16 goals in the Champions League. Only Bayern Munich (21) and Tottenham (17) have netted more.
Erling Braut Haaland has scored eight Champions League goals in 299 minutes of football during this campaign, averaging a goal every 37 minutes and 22 seconds.
Haaland has scored 28 goals for his club in just 21 appearances this season.
Salzburg have played 25 matches this season in league and cup, scoring 94 goals.
They have scored four goals or more in a game 13 times this season and have netted seven twice and six goals on three occasions.
Salzburg have kept one clean sheet in the last six games home and away, while in front of their home fans they have prevented the opposition from scoring only once in the previous eight matches.
Scorers this season
Liverpool: Mane 13, Salah 10, Origi 5, Oxlade-Chamberlain 5, Firmino 4, Milner 3, Van Dijk 3, Wijnaldum 3, Matip 2, Robertson 2, Alexander-Arnold 1, Fabinho 1, Henderson 1, Hoever 1, Keita 1, Lallana 1, Lovren 1, Shaqiri 1, own goals 3.
Salzburg: Haaland 28, Daka 16, Hwang Hee-Chan 9, Minamino 9, Koita 8, Okugawa 7, Andre Ramalho 3, Szoboszlai 4, Ulmer 3, Ashimeru 2, Farkas 2, Junuzovic 1, Prevljak 1, own goals 1.
**Stats courtesy of LFC statistician Ged Rea.
