Reds stars likely to shine brighter than Red Star in another wide-margin win

Champions League
BT Sport 3, 5.55pm Tuesday

Liverpool need to complete the double over Red Star Belgrade before their crunch showdowns with Group C rivals Napoli and Paris St-Germain, and Jurgen Klopp’s men should deliver the goods in Serbia.

Two weeks after thrashing the Serb champions 4-0 at Anfield, Liverpool can expect a warm reception at the Rajko Matic Stadium where a 50,000 crowd is expected.

Klopp has cannily ensured the volume will be down a fraction by omitting Xherdan Shaqiri – a player of Kosovar Albanian descent – from the travelling party for political reasons.

And the fact that Red Star look doomed to finish fourth, having conceding more goals in the first three group games than any other side in the Champions League, could also be in Liverpool’s favour.

The bald truth is that Liverpool are simply a far better side than the runaway Serbian league leaders and, given Klopp’s positive approach to every fixture, the chances are they will win well.

That’s certainly the view of bookmakers who go 1-5 the visitors, which is no sort of price to be getting worked up about. The match odds suggest plenty of goals, of course, and the evens that Liverpool score three or more is worthy of consideration. You could back Klopp’s team -2 on the Asian handicap at 27-25 but it is preferable to keep the 3-1 and 3-2 scorelines on your side.

On the road in Europe last season Liverpool scored seven at Maribor, five in Porto and three in Sevilla. They’ve already chalked up 43 goal attempts in their three group games which, given that two of those fixtures were against PSG and miserly Napoli, shows that the appetite for goals in this team remains as strong as ever.

They also know they can’t let up. Halfway through the group phase it is clear that goal difference could be a factor to separate the three big guns in this section.

Liverpool have a five-day break until they take on Fulham so Klopp should start with at least two members of his feared front three with Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi to fall back on if required.

Liverpool were too hot to handle in the first meeting between the sides, when the Reds could even afford to miss a penalty.

Red Star looked quite lively at times but failed to muster a shot on target. In fact they’ve had only six shots on target over the course of their three matches, the lowest haul in the tournament.

Ace striker Richmond Boakye has missed their last three league games through injury and would be missed again, although Marko Marin’s return on the left flank is a positive for Vladan Milojevic’s boys.

Domestically Red Star are solid enough and their home record in Europe is pretty impressive. They drew their group opener with Napoli 0-0 although that result was a travesty.

It was just one of those nights for the Italians, who had 73 per cent of possession, eight corners and 20 shots, hitting the woodwork twice and doing everything but score. If Liverpool can repeat those figures the scoreline could be anything.

Recommendation
Over 2.5 Liverpool goals
1pt Evs Betfair

Bet on this match at Soccerbase.com

Team news
Red Star Belgrade
Left-back Milan Rodic and winger Marko Marin, who missed the trip to Anfield, are fit. Keeper Milan Borjan has a minor injury and is a doubt while striker Richmond Boakye is crocked.

Liverpool
Xherdan Shaqiri and Nathaniel Clyne haven’t travelled. Jordan Henderson is still injured. Dejan Lovren and Naby Keita return to the squad.

Key stat
Since the start of last season Liverpool have scored at least two goals in 14 of 18 Champions League ties.

Read every day for no-nonsense previews and expert sports betting tips

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport

Like us on Facebook RacingPostSport