Liverpool continue their pre-season preparations on Tuesday as they face Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.

This match comes following the Reds' opening pre-season victory over VfB Stuttgart in the pouring rain on Saturday, as Jurgen Klopp's squad prepare for the Community Shield clash with Arsenal. 

Liverpool were in impressive form as they made a strong start to their 2020/21 preparations at the weekend, goals from Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, and Rhian Brewster securing a 3-0 win for the reigning Premier League champions. 

This match presents the final opportunity to get minutes into the legs of some key players before a return to semi-competitive action this weekend. 

This match will take place in Salzburg's own Red Bull Arena, There will be over 1,000 supporters in attendance for the match, with a ballot to determine which fans will be allowed to attend.

Three Reds will be in familiar surroundings as Naby Keita, Sadio Mane and Takumi Minamino have all represented the Austrian club, the latter only leaving for Anfield in January. 

  • The opposition

RB Salzburg won their own title this season, unlike Liverpool the Austrians have held somewhat of a monopoly over their domestic league in recent years. The 2019/20 Austrian Bundesliga crown was Die Mozartstadter's seventh straight domestic success. 

Managed by American Jesse Marsch, Salzburg suffered a double blow of departures in January when Minamino left for Liverpool and Erling Braut Håland headed to Borussia Dortmund. 

They did strengthen following the departures, Noah Okafor signed from Swiss side Basel and scoring twice in his four appearances.

Marsch's side still possess plenty of quality and finished the season in strong fashion, they are also much further down the line in terms of their pre-season preparations, this fixture will be their fifth after taking on the likes of Ajax, Nice and SK Dynamo in recent weeks. 

  • Past meetings

The two met in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stages with Klopp's side coming out on top of both meetings. However, it wasn't all plain sailing. 

In October the Reds could consider themselves rather fortunate to come away with a 4-3 victory; a Mohammed Salah brace was joined by an Andy Robertson strike along with Mane scoring against his former employers. 

Although, all three of Salzburg's goalscorers on the night have since left the Austrian Bundesliga champions, the aforementioned Minamino, Håland, and Hwang Hee-Chan, who is now an RB Leipzig player. 

Liverpool made far easier work of the return clash as they cruised through a must-win match in the Red Bull Arena in December. Naby Keita opened the scoring against his old club before Salah scored finished the scoring from a ludicrous angle. 

  • What the boss had to say

The Reds' boss spoke to LiverpoolFC.com and proclaimed he 'couldn't be happier' with what the squad has achieved during their training camp in Austria.

Following the match against RB Salzburg, the group will return to Melwood to continue their work and Klopp is delighted with how his squad is shaping up: “We have to work on set-pieces, we have to do the analysis – whatever we can use. It will be a busy day, but all OK.”

  • Team news

Although delighted with how things have panned out, Klopp wll be rueing some injury concerns ahead of the resumption of competitive action. 

Last week Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain returned to the UK following a knee injury picked up in training. Trent Alexander-Arnold wasn't part of the training squad as he remained at Melwood to work on his fitness. 

It is unlikely Jordan Henderson will feature as he continues his return from his own knee injury. Expect to see a heavily rotated side once again as the likes of new signing Kostas Tsimikas and youngster's, Neco Williams, Rhian Brewster, and Billy Koumetio get further opportunities to impress.