Joel Matip envisions a ‘tough’ time for Liverpool in the Champions League this season. Things are a little bit different this year.
Joel Matip doesn’t like the look of the UEFA Champions League schedule this year. He says the Group Stage will be ‘intense’ after necessary changes.
Clubs will finish the group off with a game every midweek, a change from the usual two-week gap. It’s a change UEFA had to make, of course, with the shortened season compacting games together.
And Matip thinks it will be tough for everyone as they compete at the highest level every week.
“It’s a really tough schedule but we have to deal with it,” he told Liverpoolfc.com. “We have to make the best of it.
“There will be some tough games but it’s the only way how it goes and everybody is happy we have the chance to play in the Champions League.
“It will be intense.”
Liverpool play Atalanta tonight before Ajax come to Anfield next Tuesday. They’ll round the group off against FC Midtjylland.
What RTK has to say
It will be tough – no getting around that. But there are certainly another two things to say about this.
Firstly, awful Premier League scheduling makes Liverpool’s time even tougher.
They had the late kick-off against Leicester City on Sunday, giving them exactly three days before Atalanta. That’s not ideal but it’s fine.
What isn’t fine, though, is that the Reds have the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday against Brighton. That’s under 36 hours after they kick-off the Atalanta clash.
It’s three games within six days – a ridiculous schedule for a team that already has a mountain of wounded players.
Fortunately, Liverpool can make things easier on themselves by beating Atalanta. They’d qualify from the group with two games to spare, allowing Jurgen Klopp to rest his first-team twice.
And we think they’d likely be fun games, too.
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