What numbers say ahead of Liverpool v Leipzig

Liverpool have never been eliminated from a European Cup/UEFA Champions League knockout tie after winning away from home in the first leg – in addition, the last time they won both legs in the Round of 16 was back in 2008-09 against Real Madrid.

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Liverpool will be the third English opponent RB Leipzig have faced away from home in the UEFA Champions League since the start of last season (also Spurs and Man Utd), while they suffered their heaviest defeat in European competition against Man Utd at Old Trafford back in October (0-5).

This will be the 21st time Liverpool have hosted German opposition across all European competitions, while they are unbeaten in the previous 20 (W16 D4), scoring 52 goals and conceding just nine in return.

Only four of RB Leipzig’s 12 wins in the UEFA Champions League have been achieved by more than a one-goal margin (33%), however the last time they won by 2+ goals in the knockout stages of the competition was against another English side in Spurs last season (3-0 in the Round of 16 second leg).

Since his Borussia Dortmund side were beaten by Bayern Munich in the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League final, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp is unbeaten in his three games against German opponents in the competition (W2 D1), with all three of those fixtures coming in the Round of 16.

Liverpool were beaten by Atlético Madrid in their last home game in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League (2-3 in March 2020) – they haven’t lost consecutive games at Anfield in the knockout stages of the competition since between 2006 and 2007 under Rafael Benítez (0-2 v Benfica and 0-1 v Barcelona).

Among players to have made 10+ appearances in the UEFA Champions League at Anfield, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has the best mins/goal ratio at this venue of any player in the competition – averaging a goal every 116 minutes played (12 goals in total).

RB Leipzig’s Angeliño has been directly involved in six of the team’s 11 goals in the UEFA Champions League this season (three goals and three assists) – only Marcel Sabitzer has previously directly contributed to more goals in a single season for the club in the competition (7 in 2019-20).

Mohamed Salah is Liverpool’s top scorer in the UEFA Champions League, netting 23 goals in 40 games for the Reds. If he scores a brace in this game, he will have reached 25 goals for an English club in the second-fewest appearances of any player in the competition, following Ruud van Nistelrooy for Manchester United (27).

Based on the quality of his shots, Emil Forsberg has the highest expected goals total of any player for RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League this season (3) – coming into the second leg fixtures, however, he has the biggest negative difference in terms of expected goals to goals scored of any player in the competition this term (-2 – one goal).