RB Leipzig vs Liverpool LIVE: News and preparations for the Champions League team from the Red Bull Arena

RB Leipzig XI: Gulacsi, Geertruida, Orban, Nusa, Haidara, Simons, Openda, Vermeeren, Lukeba, Sesko, Henrichs

Liverpool XI: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Nunez, Gakpo

Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai returns to his former club tonight when the Reds take on RB Leipzig.

In 91 appearances for Leipzig between 2021 and 2023, Szoboszlai scored 20 goals and provided 22 assists. He won the German Cup in both 2021/22 and 2022/23, scoring the second goal in the latter victory – his final game for the German club.

When Arne Slot described Chelsea as potential champions, the question arose as to whether they could compete with Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool. It soon became apparent that they couldn’t keep up with the Joneses.

Or at least not Curtis Jones. The winning goal isn’t always scored by the best player on the pitch, but in a game that could define two clubs’ seasons, this game was it.

Jones’ extraordinary dynamism took Liverpool back to the top of the table. It meant Chelsea, who had already beaten Manchester City, failed their two biggest tests of the season so far. Liverpool, now seven points ahead of them, have had their toughest game.

RB Leipzig are yet to win the Champions League this season, but coach Marco Rose isn’t too worried about the situation and will be hoping his players can take points from Liverpool tonight.

“Losing is never good, we are not relaxed, but we know that with perhaps a better performance and more luck we could have won more points,” said Rose when asked about her Champions League season so far.

“Now we face Liverpool, another great team. It’s our third game, with five more to come, also against strong opponents. Given our start to this competition, there is of course a bit of pressure building up.

“(Wednesday) won’t be crucial but it will be important to get a few points to relieve some pressure and it would be cool to start that against Liverpool.”

Leipzig coach Marco Rose knows Klopp better than most, having played for him at Mainz for six seasons, and he has learned a lot from his old boss, both as a player and now as a coach.

“(When I was a player) he always brought a lot of energy to our team,” Rose said. “Maybe we would feel weak, but he came in and gave us the confidence, the strength to play the next game and believe in ourselves, believe that any situation can be turned around.”

“As a coach you can learn a lot from him. We may not have always agreed, but the way he leads a group is unique, his honesty. Then it’s all about defense and I learned a lot from him.

“He is a great personality and a great person. I really enjoyed working with him and I’m excited that we’ll be working together again.”

Federico Chiesa was one of Liverpool’s summer signings and would have been expected to play a big role in the Premier League and Champions League this season.

However, due to injuries and other factors, he suffers from a lack of match fitness, so he is still not available to Arne Slot.

“He missed a whole pre-season, I’ve said that many times, and went to a league where the intensity is perhaps even higher than the Italian league. We just played against the two Italian teams, so I can say that now,” said Slot.

“That makes it difficult for him to take the step towards the level of intensity that the rest of the team is currently at. It’s not so much to do with the Italian League or the Premier League, but more with the fact that he missed a whole pre-season and that it’s so difficult for any player – when the games are constantly there – to prepare for which one level we are at.

“So it’s hard to say [a timeframe] But it’s a big disappointment for him that he’s constantly coming in and out of training.”

Diogo Jota was substituted in the first half of Liverpool’s game against Chelsea at the weekend and looks set to wait for a rest.

Liverpool coach Arne Slot addressed Jota’s injury, saying: “We have a few problems at the moment.

“He got hit [on Sunday]as we all saw when he was brought down when he tried to go for goal. That wasn’t the biggest problem, but I think the other player fell on him and that hurt him so much that he couldn’t continue playing and couldn’t keep up for the time being.

“At this point it is difficult to estimate how long this will take. It’s injured so we’ll have to see how long it will last.”

The Dutchman is Liverpool’s first head coach – his predecessor Jurgen Klopp’s job title was manager and he had more control, albeit without imposing his will, when he wanted to retain Roberto Firmino and James Milner in 2023 – meaning sporting director Richard Hughes has overall responsibility will take over the talks with the three key players. However, Slot confirmed that he would take part in the discussions.

The key change in the Champions League format for this season is the departure from the previous group stage system. From the 2024/25 season, 36 clubs will take part in the Champions League league phase (former group phase). These 36 clubs take part in a single league competition in which all 36 participating clubs are ranked together.

Under the new format, teams will play eight games in the new league phase, facing eight different teams, with half of these games played at home and half away.

In order to determine the eight different opponents, the teams are first ranked in four seeding pots. Each team is then drawn two opponents from each of these pots, with one game played against a team from each pot at home and one away game.

The top eight teams in the league automatically qualify for the round of 16, while teams finishing 9th to 24th will compete in a two-part knockout play-off to earn a place in the round of 16 of the competition secure. Teams finishing 25th or lower are eliminated and have no access to the Europa League.

RB Leipzig have been preparing for their visit to Liverpool under the watchful eye of coach Marco Rose. Can the German team get all three points tonight?