It’s not the Champions League, but Liverpool still have European football on the agenda this season. They will be competing to win Europe’s second biggest competition, the Europa League. They have now learned their group stage opponents. Let’s see who is on the docket.
LASK (Austria) – LASK are one of the oldest teams in the Austrian soccer league. They have never played Liverpool before so this will be a first.
This is their first foray back into European competition since the 2021-22 season when they made the Round of 16 of the Europa Conference League.
They have won the Austrian League only once in their history and it came a very long time ago in 1964-65. The current transfer value of their entire squad is just a shade under €30 million which means this should be a lopsided matchup for the Reds.
Attacking midfielder Robert Zulj leads their attack in goals and could be a name to look at in future matches.
UNION SG (Belgium) – Union SG, also known as Royal Union Saint-Gilloise, will also be a first time opponent for Liverpool.
The club was founded way back in 1897 so they have some history and impressive longevity to them for a smaller club.
They finished 3rd in the Belgian Pro League last season to earn their place into the Europa League. This will be their second consecutive season in this competition after they made a run to the Quarterfinals last season before falling to Bayer Leverkusen.
They upset Union Berlin on the path to that last 8 berth so they should not be overlooked by Jurgen Klopp’s men.
Through four matches in their current league campaign, Union SG sits in 5th place on 9 points. Their top scorer across all comps this season is Dennis Eckert Ayensa with 4, including 2 during the early Europa League action.
TOULOUSE (France) – Les Violets as they are affectionately known are by far the most accomplished side of Liverpool’s 3 Europa League group stage members.
They are the current holders of the Coupe de France, the preeminent domestic Cup competition in France. It was because of this triumph that Toulouse punched their Europa League ticket.
Toulouse is one of the biggest southwestern cities in France so if you plan to make an away trip during the group stage, this could be the one for you.
They have an exciting young winger in Zakaria Aboukhlal that brings pace and dynamic dribbling. He could pose some matchup problems.
The French outfit are on 4 points from their first 3 Ligue 1 matches of the season, so the form is middling at the moment.
That is just a brief overview of Liverpool’s first Europa League opponents and we will surely take deeper dives as the first group matches get closer.
For now, let’s enjoy the excitement around another European campaign for Liverpool.