Sportstar previews the Champions League Group E fixtures to be played on matchday four, with Liverpool hosting Genk and RB Salzburg traveling to Naples to face Carlo Ancelotti's men.
Liverpool v Genk
Second-placed Liverpool will face Genk at Anfield on Tuesday night after the Premier League table topper secured a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Aston Villa.
Liverpool beat Genk 4-1 at the Luminus Arena in the first leg in what was the first meeting between the two sides.
Genk sits bottom of Group E with just one point from the goalless draw against Napoli. The Belgian side travels to Liverpool having lost to 12th-placed Eupen in its domestic league on Saturday.
Genk's only previous visit away to an English club came in October 2011, when it lost 5-0 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a group-stage fixture.
For Jurgen Klopp and Co., things look better as the Reds are unbeaten in 23 games at Anfield since losing 3-0 to Real Madrid in October 2014.
Read: Chelsea hosts Ajax, Lille faces trip to Valencia
After facing Genk in midweek, Liverpool is scheduled to face English competitor Manchester City on Sunday in the Premier League. Klopp, though, has his targets set clear. "I never thought for a second about the Man City game and the Aston Villa game together," he said. "I was never thinking 'we should win there because maybe we could lose next week'.
"I didn't even ask about other Premier League results after our game. It's not important. We play Genk and then we play Man City. Yes, it's important to win at Aston Villa. The way they set up, it was really difficult. But we did it. Now we have to collect the bones and prepare for the next challenge against Genk,” he added.
Liverpool has no injury concerns for the face-off with Genk but it remains to be seen if Fabinho, who was left on the bench for the Aston Villa fixture to protect him from being booked and thus sidelined for the City clash, would be restored to the starting XI.
Napoli v Salzburg
Napoli can secure qualification for the round of 16 with a win over Salzburg if Genk fails to beat Liverpool. It will leave Napoli with 10 points and give it a chance to top Group E with fixtures against Liverpool and Genk to play.
It is the only unbeaten team in this group having won against defending European champion Liverpool at home and away to Salzburg, while it drew with Genk away from home on matchday two.
Salzburg has scored an average of almost four goals in three Group E fixtures, but its defensive vulnerability - it has conceded nine goals so far - has left it third in the group and needing to win at least two of its three remaining fixtures to have a chance of progressing.
At his pre-match press conference on Monday, Salzburg manager Jesse Marsch said: "Defending better could be the key to success. We are always good for a goal going forwards. We have to prepare to face any of Napoli's strikers. They are all good players with great movement."
Napoli manager Ancelotti said, "Tomorrow's game is an important one and our aim is to reach the Champions League knockout stage. The Champions League is a shorter competition than the league and to reach the knockout stage with two games in hand would mean having done something great, but that's it.
( with inputs from uefa.com )
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