Friday, August 2, 2019

Liverpool in 2019-20: Seven trophies on offer for Jurgen Klopp's Reds

Liverpool in 2019-20: Seven trophies on offer for Jurgen Klopp's Reds, sunshevy.blogspot.com
Liverpool with the seven trophies they could win this season in chronological order
If Liverpool fans thought last season was special, 2019-20 could take things to a whole new level.

Their Champions League success and second-placed finish in the Premier League in 2018-19 means they will take part in seven different competitions over the next 10 months - the Community Shield, Uefa Super Cup, Club World Cup, Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup.

How many games would Liverpool have to play?
If Liverpool go all the way in each competition, they are likely to play 67 games across exactly 300 days an average of a game every 4.5 days. They will play a minimum of 50 matches if they get knocked out of every cup immediately.

Their total could reach 71 if they finish third in their Champions League group - to go into the Europa League last 32 and need FA Cup replays in the third and fourth rounds. That is on top of their seven pre-season friendlies in England, the United States, Scotland and Switzerland.

"It would be great if we could use the whole squad throughout the whole season," said Klopp. "That would make life easier. The number of games sounds big. We have big targets. "We will never try to avoid football games. We are happy to have as much as possible, as it means you have had a successful season.

"The league, as always, will be our main focus because we play most of our games there. There are no games where we can say 'let's send the kids there' because all the games are so exciting, close and competitive." They could already have won two trophies - beating their 2018-19 haul by the time they play their second Premier League game of the season.

The Reds open the campaign with a Community Shield game against Manchester City at Wembley on Sunday, 4 August. After their league opener at home to Norwich on Friday, 9 August, they play Europa League winners Chelsea in an all-English Uefa Super Cup in Istanbul on Wednesday, 14 August.

If the Reds go all the way in the Champions League they will be back in Istanbul for the final 290 days later - on 30 May 2020. The city's Olympic Stadium has wonderful memories for Reds fans, who saw their team beat AC Milan in the final of the same competition at that venue in 2005.

Before that, Liverpool face a very busy December. The festive period is hectic at the best of times but Liverpool will play at least eight games in 29 days over Christmas including a 7,000-mile round trip to Qatar.

In the Club World Cup, being held in the Gulf state from 11 to 21 December, Liverpool will go in at the semi-final stage on 18 December, with the 2019 South American champions in the other last-four tie.

Jurgen Klopp's team will have have at least one Premier League fixture moved as a result - their game against West Ham is scheduled to be on the same day as the final and third-place play-off.

If the West Ham game is shifted forwards or backwards by a few days, the Reds will play six Premier League games in December - and again on 1 January. The Carabao Cup quarter-finals are scheduled for the week beginning 16 December too. Odds are not currently available on the Club World Cup. But a £1 accumulator on Liverpool to win the other six would earn £6,790.

Has anyone played in seven competitions?
The only country which has ever had teams eligible for seven top-level trophies in one season is England.

The only way to play that many is to win the Champions League - thus qualifying for the Uefa Super Cup (which only started in 1972) and Club World Cup (formerly the Intercontinental Cup) - and then have four domestic competitions.

Of the 10 countries to have had a European Cup/Champions League winner, England, France, Portugal and Scotland are the only four to have League Cups. But France's and Portugal's both came in after Marseille and Porto's respective wins. Celtic won the 1966-67 European Cup but Scotland does not have a domestic Super Cup/Community Shield-style game.

This is the fifth season that an English club will have taken part in seven competitions. The most recent example was Chelsea, who actually featured in eight in 2012-13 (a bit more on that later).

Liverpool were the first team to do it, back in 1984-85, while Manchester United played in seven competitions twice, in 1999-2000 and 2008-09.

The Red Devils famously did not take part in the 1999-2000 FA Cup, but they did play in the Intercontinental Cup and Club World Championship (as it was then called) that campaign, the one year the two competitions overlapped.

Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa both missed the chance in the late 1970s and early 1980s by failing to reach the Charity Shield (as it was then called).

Liverpool could also have done it in 1977-78, but they opted out of the Intercontinental Cup, as many English teams did at that time, because of a fear of violence from their South American opponents.

Has anyone ever won all seven?
None of the sides listed above ever managed to win all seven trophies. The best haul was Manchester United's four of Premier League, League Cup, Community Shield and Club World Cup in 2008-09. United won two in 1999-2000 the Premier League and Intercontinental Cup.

Chelsea did not win any of the seven they competed in during 2012-13, although they dropped down to an eighth competition - the Europa League after going out in the Champions League group stages, and they won that.

Liverpool failed to win any of their seven competitions in 1984-85. They finished second in the First Division and lost in the European Cup final, Uefa Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup and Charity Shield.

Barcelona won all six trophies available in the calendar year of 2009 although that counts the second half of the 2008-09 season, when they won the Champions League, La Liga and the Copa del Rey and the first half of 2009-10 when they lifted the Spanish Super Cup, Uefa Super Cup and Club World Cup.

They "only" managed three in 2008-09 and four in 2009-10. Plenty of sides have won four trophies in a campaign, including Manchester City's domestic clean sweep last season. Liverpool won all five cup competitions available in 2001 their League Cup, FA Cup and Uefa Cup treble followed by the Charity Shield and Uefa Super Cup in August.

Belfast side Linfield claim to have won seven trophies in 1921-22 and again in 1961-62, although those were all domestic or all-Ireland leagues and cups. Celtic won all five trophies in which they competed in 1966-67 the European Cup, a Scottish league, cup and League Cup treble and the Glasgow Cup.

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