Having enjoyed a successful return to the Westfalenstadion last week, Jurgen Klopp will welcome former club Borussia Dortmund to Anfield on Thursday with his Liverpool side holding a slight advantage at the halfway stage of their Europa League quarter-final.
The Reds held the tournament favourites to a 1-1 draw in the first leg and are now looking to reach their first European semi-final since 2009-10.
Liverpool
© AFP
With all the pre-match focus on Jurgen Klopp heading into last week's first leg at Signal Iduna Park, Liverpool's chances of actually progressing from the tie almost flew under the radar.
They were big underdogs heading into a match against a Dortmund team in fine form who had comfortably seen off Premier League title-chasers Tottenham Hotspur in the last round, but they produced a solid and professional display to give themselves a slender advantage at the halfway stage.
There is certainly still a lot of work to be done, but Divock Origi's away goal means that any win or a goalless draw would be enough to send Liverpool into the last four of the competition, knocking out the tournament favourites in the process.
It could have been even better for the Reds too, who missed a number of good chances in addition to keeping Dortmund's threat to a minimum.
Klopp was unhappy with the manner in which his side conceded the equaliser, though, with all of their good work being undone by some lax marking from a set piece as Mats Hummels steamed in to score early in the second half.
Liverpool can ill afford to give cheap goals away in what is expected to be a tight affair at Anfield, with the Reds having drawn seven of their 11 games so far in this season's competition.
They are, however, the only team to have made it through to this stage without losing a game, and should they avoid defeat again on Thursday then they would become the first team in Europa League history to go 12 games unbeaten from the group stages in a single campaign.
They picked up a morale-boosting victory over Stoke City at the weekend too, with Daniel Sturridge and Origi both among the scorers as a much-changed Liverpool cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Potters at Anfield.
It was their first win in five games in all competitions and appears to have come too late for a top-four push, but Klopp would have been buoyed by such a comfortable win over difficult opposition having named the likes of Kevin Stewart and Sheyi Ojo in the starting XI.
They have only lost one of their last 14 games inside 90 minutes, although they have been beaten in extra time and on penalties in that period and have drawn three of their last five games 1-1 - a scoreline which would take the tie to an additional 30 minutes.
You have to go back to January for their last defeat at Anfield, while they haven't been beaten in front of their own fans in the Europa League since October 2012 - their only defeat in their last 27 home outings in Europe's secondary club competition.
Crucially, they have also progressed from 11 of the last 12 European ties in which they have drawn the first leg away from home, with the only exception in that time coming against Celtic in the 2002-03 UEFA Cup.
Recent form: DDWWDD
Recent form (all competitions): WDLDDW
Borussia Dortmund
© AFP
Whether Dortmund were caught up in the emotion of Klopp's return last week, only they will know, but there is no doubt that they were far short of their best at the Westfalenstadion.
Their game lacked the usual pace and energy that makes them so dangerous, with the front three of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marco Reus barely troubling Liverpool's goal throughout the match.
The hope for the visitors will be that they won't have an off-day like that at Anfield, and having managed to come away with a 1-1 draw from the first leg despite not playing particularly well, they are still very much in the tie.
They only need to go back less than a month for their most recent visit to England, when they ran out 2-1 winners over a Tottenham side who have the best home record in the Premier League this season, sealing their 5-1 aggregate triumph.
They have the firepower and the quality to win at Anfield, then, and their focus will now be solely on the Europa League having seen their hopes of catching Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga all but ended at the weekend.
It was a tall order to close the gap on them anyway, but having made a number of changes to his side for Sunday's Ruhr derby against Schalke 04, Thomas Tuchel watched as the deficit grew to seven points courtesy of a 2-2 draw at the Veltins Arena.
The team selection in that match strongly hinted that Thursday's game was already Tuchel's priority, though, and his side will be desperate to prove just why they are the favourites to lift the trophy and become only the fifth club to have won all three major UEFA tournaments.
Despite those back-to-back draws, their form is still daunting for Liverpool, with Dortmund's unbeaten record in 2016 now standing at 18 matches. Nine of those have come away from home too, where they have only been denied victory twice in that time.
They have been beaten on the road in the Europa League already this season, though, going down to Krasnodar on their way to an unconvincing second-place finish in the group stages, but they have since beaten both Porto and Spurs away from home.
Of course, a draw could also be enough to send Dortmund crashing out if it remains goalless, but they have not been held to a 0-0 stalemate in any of their last 37 European games.
Their record in this position is not a good one, though - they have been eliminated on five of the six occasions in which they have picked up a home draw in the first leg of a European tie.
Recent form: LWWWWD
Recent form (all competitions): WWWWDD
Team News
© Getty Images
Klopp's main dilemma ahead of Thursday's match surrounds his strikers, with Origi being preferred to Sturridge for the first leg and repaying that faith by scoring the away goal.
Sturridge returned to the starting lineup against Stoke and got himself a goal too, but he was then upstaged by Origi once again as the Belgian came off the bench to score twice.
Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren were both impressive in the first leg and should return again for this match having been rested at the weekend, while the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Lucas Leiva will also be pushing for a recall.
Jordan Henderson's knee injury means that James Milner will captain the side, while Emre Can is free to return having been suspended against Stoke on Sunday.
Dortmund's only major injury problem is with Neven Subotic, who is expected to miss the rest of the season due to thrombosis.
Cup goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller will replace Roman Burki between the sticks, while the likes of Mkhitaryan, Ilkay Gundogan, Aubameyang and Reus should be amongst those to return having been rested at the weekend.
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Mignolet; Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno; Can, Lucas, Milner; Firmino, Origi, Coutinho
Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Weidenfeller; Piszczek, Bender, Hummels, Schmelzer; Weigl, Castro, Sahin, Mkhitaryan, Reus; Aubameyang
Head To Head
Prior to last week's first leg, these two sides had met three times in European competition before, with the record standing evenly at one win apiece.
The most notable clash came in the 1966 Cup Winners' Cup final as Bill Shankly's Liverpool were beaten 2-1, while they also played twice in the 2001-02 Champions League group stages, drawing 0-0 in Dortmund before Liverpool won 2-0 in the only previous meeting at Anfield.
Indeed, Liverpool have never been beaten at home by German opposition, winning 12 and drawing three of their 15 such meetings. They have only conceded one goal in the last 13 of those games too.
Dortmund, meanwhile, have won four of their 10 previous visits to these shores and have a 50% win ratio against English opposition from 22 meetings.
We say: Liverpool 2-1 Dortmund (after extra time)
Liverpool will be fortunate if Dortmund are as toothless on Thursday as they were in the first leg, but the Reds have had a tendency to rise to the big occasion this season. It is sure to be a special night at Anfield and, while it may go all the way to extra time, we feel that the home advantage just gives Liverpool the edge in this eagerly-anticipated clash.
Barney Corkhill
