Liverpool is ending its pre-season preparations in somewhat unorthodox fashion. Arne Slot will get to experience the Anfield crowd for the first time when his team takes on Sevilla this afternoon, but supporters will disperse from the ground ahead of a behind-closed-doors friendly against Las Palmas .
The match against Sevilla kicks off at 12:30PM UK time. The game against Las Palmas, also of La Liga, will kick off at 5PM.
It remains to be seen what kind of team Slot puts out for each fixture. But he has more than enough players to entirely change the line-ups, after key figures like Trent Alexander-Arnold , Alexis Mac Allister and Luis Diaz returned from their post-tournament holidays.
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No doubt the rather hastily-organized second friendly against Las Palmas is a way of managing the minutes of those returning players. With two games to play, Slot can continue to build up the match sharpness of those who have had more or less a full pre-season, but can also give the returning stars a taste of action — while getting the chance to run the rule over them too.
Alisson, Darwin Nunez, Joe Gomez , Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo are also among the returning contingent, and could play a part in one of the two fixtures. Meanwhile, Andy Robertson is back in training following an injury that kept him out of the US tour fixtures.
With fringe figures like Sepp van den Berg and Fabio Carvalho standing out in pre-season so far, the double friendly ensures there will be plenty of minutes to go around — something Slot won't be able to guarantee once the campaign gets underway. But it should keep his selection options wide open ahead of the opening fixture away to Ipswich Town next weekend.
As to why the Las Palmas friendly will be behind closed doors, James Pearce cites "operational reasons". In essence, seemingly, the friendly was not arranged with enough notice to sort out all of the details associated with ensuring a matchday runs smoothly and safely.
It will mean missed revenue for FSG , who could probably have more or less sold out the expanded Anfield for both fixtures. But Slot and his staff have clearly identified a sporting benefit, which is why the Las Palmas fixture goes ahead.
Liverpool.com says: It isn't the first time Liverpool has opted for novel pre-season friendly formats, playing back-to-back 30-minute matches back in 2021 . Comparatively, today's setup is more standard, although it will be odd to see Anfield clear out hours before another game is set to kick off there.
Fans will still be able to follow the behind-closed-doors match. It is available to watch on LFC TV GO.
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