Liverpool kick off their preparations for the new term at Wildparkstadion on Wednesday, where German second-tier side Karlsruher SC will welcome them for a pre-season friendly.
Jurgen Klopp's men will also encounter Greuther Furth during their training camp in the manager's homeland, while their hosts have already completed a quintet of exhibition games this summer.
Match preview
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One-time Bundesliga champions all the way back in the 1908-09 season, Karlsruher have since alternated between second and third-tier football in Germany since their most recent stay in the Bundesliga came to a swift end in 2009.
Following their promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga in 2019, 40-year-old head coach Christian Eichner - who has been in the role since the pre-coronavirus lockdown days of February 2020 - has kept his side afloat in the second tier, yo-yoing between bottom and top-half finishes in that time.
The 2022-23 campaign was solid if yet unspectacular for Karlsruher, who finished in a respectable seventh place but were closer to the relegation zone than the runaway top three points-wise, finishing a whopping 20 worse off than bronze medallists Hamburger SV.
Now aiming to make waves at the top end of the standings in their fifth-straight season of second-division football, Karlsruher have four wins to show from their five summer friendlies so far, including an extraordinary 18-0 obliteration of Ketsch.
Turkgucu Munchen, AE Zakakiou and Balingen have also fallen to Karlsruher's superiority this summer, but Eichner's side were comfortably dispatched 3-0 by Viktoria Plzen on July 10 and should not be expecting miracles against a Liverpool crop with just a few points to prove.
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For the first time since Klopp's maiden Merseyside campaign in the 2015-16 season, Anfield will be without the bright lights of the Champions League next season, as the Reds swap Tuesday and Wednesday nights to walk out to the Europa League anthem on Thursday evenings.
As ever, injuries did not help the Reds' cause, and the walls of the Anfield fortress were rarely knocked down, but shortcomings on the road bedevilled Klopp's side time and time again as they settled for a fifth-placed finish in the top flight, four points worse off than Newcastle United in the final Champions League qualification spot.
Electing not to pursue a new permanent midfielder last summer well and truly came back to bite the Reds, who also had a few months of ownership uncertainty lingering over their heads before the vilified John W Henry ultimately ruled out a full sale of the club - much to the annoyance of Liverpool fans yearning for significant investment after losing out to Real Madrid in the race for Jude Bellingham.
Nevertheless, Liverpool did end the season as they mean to go on, stringing together an 11-game unbeaten streak and winning seven on the bounce before a stalemate with Aston Villa on the penultimate weekend extinguished any wafer-thin hopes of Champions League qualification.
Following their German vacation, Liverpool head to Singapore to face off against Leicester City and Bayern Munich, before continuing their Deutschland sequence with a final exhibition game against SV Darmstadt 98 at Preston North End's Deepdale base.
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Team News
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Karlsruher have already made one notable acquisition in the summer transfer window, bringing in former Borussia Monchengladbach forward Lars Stindl on a free transfer after the 34-year-old contributed to 15 goals from 29 Bundesliga outings last season.
A former youth product of KSC, Stindl represented Karlsruher during their most recent Bundesliga years between 2007 and 2009 before being picked up by Hannover, and the hosts have also poached young Bayern Munich left-back David Herold on loan.
Eichner is not without a couple of fitness concerns, though, as Finnish defender Daniel O'Shaughnessy is nursing a hip problem, while 2005-born midfielder Efe Kaan Sihlaroglu is on the long road to recovery from a cruciate ligament rupture.
Meanwhile, Liverpool's new midfield duo of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai are in line to make their debuts for the Reds on Wednesday, while Jordan Henderson's inclusion in the 32-man travelling party was perhaps the standout story.
The Reds captain has supposedly agreed terms over a move to Steven Gerrard's Al-Ettifaq, but the Saudi Arabian outfit are yet to agree a transfer fee with Liverpool, who have therefore brought Henderson with them to Germany as talks rumble on.
However, Fabinho has been left at home as he negotiates a possible transfer to Al-Ittihad, potentially following Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Leighton Clarkson out of the door for good.
Karlsruher SC possible starting lineup:
Drewes; Jung, Kobald, Franke, Herold; Arase, Gondorf, Jensen, Nebel; Stindl, Schleusener
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Bajcetic, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nunez, Diaz
We say: Karlsruher SC 0-4 Liverpool
Karlsruher have become accustomed to racking up a glut of goals in their summer friendlies so far, but the hosts will likely be given a taste of their own medicine against a rejuvenated Liverpool team.
While Klopp is sure to ring the changes during Wednesday's match as academy products seek to make their mark, the Reds should stroll to a comfortable victory at Wildparkstadion.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
