Liverpool’s next Champions League fixture is at home to Rb Salzburg on the 2nd October, and there’s one player we need to keep a very keen eye on.
19-year-old forward Erling Haaland has scored a genuinely barbaric 17 goals in nine appearances so far this season.
11 of those have come from seven appearances in the Austrian Bundesliga, three more in the Austrian Cup and three more in the Champions League – all scored during a first-half hat-trick v Genk on Tuesday evening.
Haaland is the son of former Manchester City and Leeds midfielder Alf-Inge – the recipient of that infamous Roy Keane leg-breaking tackle.
Over the summer, he also scored nine goals for Norway’s U20 side in one single match, although admittedly it was against a fairly hapless Honduras.
The hype surrounding the forward is huge already, but we hope he doesn’t justify it against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
In fairness, he’ll have Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip as his direct opponents – and won’t have seen anything of their ilk yet.
The Austrians are a decent outfit though, and not one we can afford to take for granted under any circumstances.
Failure to get three points will see us in a real challenge for qualification having lost the first game.