Liverpool travel to RB Leipzig in the Champions League – follow live

Virgil van Dijk has confirmed he is in talks with Liverpool about a new contract but admitted he has no idea what his future holds.

But Liverpool risk losing a £75m signing on a free transfer with Van Dijk able to arrange a summer move to foreign clubs from January and the centre-back unsure whether he will remain at Anfield.

RB Leipzig have yet to win in the Champions League this season but are unbeaten in the German Bundesliga. Liverpool boss Arne Slot has noted this and is preparing to face a strong team this evening.

Slot said: “I never think it is a good idea to lose a game. Wherever you are in the season, you always want the best possible result. We face a good team, doing well in the Bundesliga.

“With this format, after two games you can have a league table that doesn’t tell the whole story. They are a very good team and, yes, the fixture list is tough, but what do you expect if you play in the Champions League?

“That is what we like and what we want.”

RB Leipzig head coach, Marco Rose, spoke about Liverpool in the build-up to tonight’s clash and labelled Arne Slot’s side as ‘physical and strong’.

Rose believes facing the current Premier League leaders will be an exciting challenge for his team. He said: “They are strong at pressing and work hard defensively. They are physical and a strong team without possession, something that they were good at under Jurgen Klopp and now Arne Slot is doing it in his own way.

“Their game hasn’t changed much; they still play at a really high intensity.Their positional play is strong and dominant, plus they are hard to defend against and have lots of quality in attack.

“They are a top side and it’s an exciting challenge for us.”

Jurgen Klopp hopes to be able to “figure out what is useful for football” in his new role as Red Bull’s global head of soccer.

The former Liverpool manager said he wanted to start learning about the game again when he officially starts on January 1.

“A few months ago I said I don’t see myself on the sidelines any more and that’s still the case, but I still love football and still love working and Red Bull gives me the perfect platform for that,” Klopp, who left Anfield in the summer after almost nine years, said in a video on Instagram.

“I want to share my experience which I collected over the years and we all know there are much more successful managers out there.

“In my career I’ve fought for promotion, I’ve fought against relegation, I’ve fought for titles and I’ve fought for trophies. Sometimes we failed, sometimes we succeeded and dealing with that is not easy, but it is possible. Then I want to learn again because when you are in the job and have to play every three days you barely have time for that.

“Now I have time and I have the opportunity and I want to see, feel and figure out what is useful for football. So developing football a little bit as well.”

Nine years after his departure from Borussia Dortmund, he was welcomed back to the Signal Iduna Park in September to coach in a testimonial game between sides captained by Jakub Blaszczykowski and Lukasz Piszczek, performing his trademark fist pumps in front of the Yellow Wall again.

On Saturday, Mainz turned their attention to the manager who propelled them from the German second flight into Europe. “Have you forgotten everything we gave you?” read one banner. “Bist du bekloppt?” (“Are you crazy?”) asked another, punning on his surname in his native tongue. For once, the people turned on Klopp.

According to the bookies, Liverpool are the favourites to win this one though at 14/5 Leipzig are in with a decent shout of causing an upset.

A draw is apparantly the least likely outcome so expect one of these teams to go out and win this evening.

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Here’s how we see the two teams lining up this evening. Liverpool are without Alisson in goal so Caoimhin Kelleher will get the opportunity to further impress in the Champions League.

RB Leipzig XI: Gulacsi, Geertruida, Orban, Castello, Henrichs, Nusa, Kampl, Vermeeren, Xavi, Openda, Sesko

Liverpool XI: Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Jones, Salah, Nunez, Diaz

Liverpool will be without first-choice goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who continues to recover from a hamstring problem. A late decision may be made over Diogo Jota, who had to come off against Chelsea, while Harvey Elliott continues his rehabilitation following a broken foot.

Leipzig may be without Amadou Haidara after he had to leave the field early during their win against Mainz. Nicolas Seiwald, David Raum, Assan Ouédraogo and Xaver Schlager are all not expected to be available. But Kevin Kampl could be pushing for inclusion in the matchday squad.

The match will be shown live in the UK on Discovery+ TNT Sports 1 with coverage starting at 7pm BST. Subscribers can also watch the match via the app and website.

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RB Leipzig vs Liverpool will kick off at 8pm BST (9pm CEST) at the Red Bull Arena in Leipzig, Germany.