UEFA Champions League winners Liverpool will be forced to present and play totally separate teams when they feature in the Carabao Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup in a short space of 24 hours after scheduling plans to postpone the League Cup last eight ties to another date was unsuccessful.

The English Premier League side revealed this on Tuesday that there was no available date to shift the Quarter-final tie against Aston Villa on December 17 to despite having to travel to Asian country, Qatar, for their first FIFA Club World Cup match on December 18.

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp’s side had to fight hard to beat a stubborn Arsenal side on penalties in the round of 16 matches played at the Anfield Stadium last week after playing out an entertaining 5-5 draw.

Shortly after the match, manager Jurgen Klopp had hinted the team may pull out of the Carabao Cup if no convenient date for the quarter-final fixture.

However, the club released a statement to explain the decision to have two different sides in both competitions rather than pull out of the league cup competition.
Further explained in the statement, the club revealed that though the situation has given the club the chance to do this, it is not the ideal move.

However, the decision was made while considering the best interest of every stakeholder caught in the situation Liverpool, fellow clubs, and the competition itself.

This was after a series of discussions with the English Football League on an alternative date proved abortive.

Liverpool are still unbeaten in the league after eleven games dropping just two points so far I the 1-1 draw against Manchester United.

They also staged a comeback against Aston Villa at the Villa Park on Sunday with Andrew Robertson and Sadio Mane, scoring late into the game after Egyptian Midfielder Trezeguet’s first-half strike.

Liverpool are strongly fancied at 1.35 to be top of the EPL table on Christmas Day, while Manchester City are given odds of 2.95.

 
 
Written by: Idowu Daniel Ademiju