Salzburg v Liverpool facts

There is all to play for at the Stadion Salzburg as Salzburg welcome holders Liverpool with each looking to progress from Group E.

• Liverpool lead the section on ten points, one ahead of Napoli with Salzburg third on seven points. That means the Premier League leaders will go through if they avoid defeat, or if Napoli lose at home to bottom side Genk; Salzburg – who have never beaten English opposition – will be through if they win against Liverpool and Napoli do not beat Genk. If Napoli win, Salzburg must beat Liverpool by a better scoreline than the 4-3 by which they lost against them on Matchday 2.

• That game at Anfield on 2 October was the clubs' first meeting, and Liverpool's first match against an Austrian club for more than 15 years, and initially looked like being a one-sided affair as goals from former Salzburg forward Sadio Mané (9), Andy Robertson (25) and Mohamed Salah (36) put the home side in charge. Hee-Chan Hwang (39) reduced the Salzburg deficit before half-time, however, and 15 minutes into the second half the visitors were back on terms thanks to Takumi Minamino (56) and Erling Braut Haaland (60), only for Salah to score what proved to be the decisive goal in the 69th minute.

Form guide
Salzburg
• Salzburg kicked off with a 6-2 win against Genk on Matchday 1, scoring five goals in the first half – only the seventh team to do so in the UEFA Champions League. Haaland's three goals made him the eighth player to score a UEFA Champions League debut hat-trick, and the first to do so in the first half. Aged 19 years 58 days, the Norwegian is the third youngest player to score a UEFA Champions League hat-trick, behind Raúl González (18 years 113 days) and Wayne Rooney (18 years 340 days).

• Haaland was also on target in the 4-3 defeat at Anfield, adding three more against Napoli (2-3 home, 1-1 away) and another in the 4-1 success at Genk on Matchday 5 to make it eight goals in this season's competition, two behind top scorer Robert Lewandowski of Bayern München.

• Salzburg have registered 16 goals in their first five group games – only Group B qualifiers Bayern München (21) and Tottenham Hotspur (17) have scored more.

• The Austrian club won a sixth successive Bundesliga title in 2018/19 – their 13th overall – adding the Austrian Cup to complete a domestic double for the sixth time, all since 2011/12. As Austrian champions, Salzburg qualified automatically for the group stage.

• Salzburg's sole previous UEFA Champions League group stage appearance came in 1994/95, their European Cup debut, when they finished third in a group involving eventual winners Ajax, a Milan side who went on to lose to the Dutch club in the final, and AEK Athens. With two points then awarded for a win, Salzburg picked up five from their six matches, a 3-1 victory away to AEK their sole success.

• Of Salzburg's seven consecutive eliminations in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds between 2012/13 and 2018/19, three took place in the play-offs, including last season's defeat against Crvena zvezda (0-0 a, 2-2 h).

• The Austrian club therefore moved into the UEFA Europa League, a competition in which they had reached the semi-finals in 2017/18, and won all six of their group games for the third time – a competition record – to head a section including Celtic, Leipzig and Rosenborg. Marco Rose's side then beat Belgium's Club Brugge in the round of 32 (1-2 a, 4-0 h), before bowing out against Napoli (0-3 a, 3-1 h).

• Salzburg were unbeaten in 19 European home games, winning 15, until the defeat by Napoli on Matchday 4.

• The Austrian club have never beaten Premier League opposition, home and away, in five previous attempts (D1 L4), losing the last four matches. At home they drew 2-2 against Blackburn Rovers in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup first round first leg (2-4 aggregate) before a 2-0 defeat against Manchester City in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage.

Liverpool
• Liverpool have recorded a win and a loss on the road in this season's group stage, opening their defence of the trophy with a 2-0 defeat at Napoli before a 4-1 success at Genk on Matchday 3. They have picked up seven points at home, defeating Salzburg and Genk (2-1), but drawing 1-1 at Anfield against Napoli on Matchday 5.

• Victory at Genk ended a run of four successive away group stage defeats for Liverpool, whose previous away win at this stage of the UEFA Champions League had come via a 7-0 success at Maribor on Matchday 3 of the 2017/18 edition. They have won only two of their last 11 group matches away from Anfield (D3 L6).

• Jürgen Klopp's team lost all three away games in last season's group stage, but were rescued by three wins at Anfield as they edged out Napoli on goal difference. They then beat Bayern München 3-1 away in the second leg of their round of 16 tie, going through by the same aggregate score, before ousting Porto 6-1 over two legs in the quarter-finals (2-0 h, 4-1 a). The journey looked to be over when the Reds went down 3-0 at Barcelona in the semi-final first leg, but two goals apiece from Georginio Wijnaldum and Divock Origi sealed a rousing second-leg turnaround, before Salah and Origi secured the club's sixth European Cup with a 2-0 final defeat of Tottenham in Madrid.

• Liverpool have won eight of their last 11 European fixtures (D2 L1) but have lost seven of their last 12 UEFA competition matches outside England.

• The Reds have, however, never lost in Austria, where their record is W2 D1. The last two such games have finished 2-0 in their favour, most recently in the third qualifying round of their victorious 2004/05 UEFA Champions League campaign when two Steven Gerrard goals earned a 2-0 success at Grazer AK in the first leg of a tie Liverpool went on to win 2-1 on aggregate.

• Premier League runners-up in 2018/19, finishing a single point behind Manchester City, Liverpool are in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 12th time; they have only failed to progress to the last 16 on three occasions.

• Liverpool have already claimed European silverware this term, beating Chelsea 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw in the UEFA Super Cup in Istanbul.

Links and trivia
• Mané was a Salzburg player between 2012 and 2014, scoring 31 goals in 63 league games and winning the Austrian league and cup double in 2013/14.

• Naby Keïta was in the Salzburg team that won back-to-back Austrian doubles in 2014/15 and 2015/16, and was named Austrian Bundesliga player of the year in his second and final season at the club.

• Salzburg assistant coach René Aufhauser was in the GAK side that won 1-0 at Anfield in 2004, the first time an Austrian side had triumphed in England.

• Patrick Farkas was sent off in Austria's 4-0 defeat by an England side including substitute Jordan Henderson in an Under-21 friendly in March 2013.

• Wijnaldum scored in the Netherlands' 2-0 friendly victory against Zlatko Junuzović's Austria in 2016.

• Roberto Firmino got the winner as Brazil beat Junuzović and Austria 2-1 in a 2014 friendly.

Latest news

Salzburg
• Salzburg have won 18 of their 25 matches this season in all competitions, with the only defeats coming at Liverpool and at home to Napoli in the UEFA Champions League group stage. They drew 1-1 at Admira Wacker on 1 December before Saturday's 5-1 home success against Tirol.

• Erling Braut Haaland scored his fifth hat-trick of the season in a 3-0 win at Wolfsberg on 3 November. The 19-year-old, who was also on target at the weekend, has 28 goals in 21 club appearances in 2019/20 and is the joint top scorer in the Austrian Bundesliga with 16 goals.

• Patson Daka, who opened the scoring on Saturday, has 13 goals in 16 league appearances this season.

• Masaya Okugawa was also on target against Tirol, his sixth league goal of the season to make this his most productive campaign.

• The Austrian champions have picked up 43 points from their first 17 league games, two more than second-placed LASK.

• Salzburg have scored 94 goals in 25 competitive matches this season, 64 in the league.

• Goalkeeper Cican Stankovic, who had been sidelined by a thigh injury since Matchday 3, returned against Admira Wacker.

• Sekou Koita has been sidelined since 22 November due to an abdominal muscle injury.

• Patrick Farkas has been out since 21 October due to circulatory problems.

• Antoine Bernede fractured his shin in the 2-1 Austrian Cup win at Rapid on 25 September.

Liverpool
• Jordan Henderson's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.

• Liverpool have won 15 of their 16 Premier League matches this season, the exception a 1-1 draw at Manchester United on 20 October. That ended the Merseyside club's run of 17 successive Premier League victories, one short of Manchester City's top-flight record.

• The draw at United is the only one of the Reds' last 25 league matches they have failed to win. They were 3-0 victors at Bournemouth on Saturday, and have scored two or more goals in 23 of those 25 games.

• Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keïta scored their first Premier League goals of the season on Saturday, taking the number of Liverpool players to have found the net in the competition this season to 16.

• Mohamed Salah was also on target at Bournemouth, his 63rd Premier League goal in his 100th appearance; only Alan Shearer (79), Ruud van Nistelrooy (68) and Sergio Agüero (64) scored more in their first 100 matches.

• Liverpool are unbeaten in 33 league fixtures (W28 D5), since a 2-1 loss at Manchester City on 3 January. A 5-2 home win against Everton in the Merseyside derby on 4 December set a new record for the longest top-flight unbeaten run in the club's history.

• The win against Everton was Jürgen Klopp's 100th Premier League victory in his 159th game – the fastest a Liverpool manager has reached that landmark. Only José Mourinho (142) has reached a century of Premier League wins in fewer games.

• The win at Bournemouth was Liverpool's first clean sheet in 14 matches in all competitions, and only their fourth in their 25 games this season.

• On 30 October Liverpool reached the quarter-finals of the English League Cup with a 5-4 penalties win against Arsenal after a remarkable 5-5 draw at Anfield; that was only the second time in 66 years the Reds had conceded five goals in a game at Anfield, with the other occasion Arsenal's 6-3 League Cup victory in January 2007.

• Liverpool will travel to Aston Villa in the League Cup quarter-finals on 17 December.

• Summer signing Harvey Elliott made his Liverpool debut in a 2-0 victory at MK Dons in the League Cup third round on 25 September; aged 16 years 174 days, he was the youngest player to start a game for Liverpool.

• The Reds kicked off the season by losing 5-4 on penalties to English champions Manchester City after a 1-1 draw in the FA Community Shield at Wembley on 4 August.

• Liverpool did come out on top on spot kicks against Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup on 14 August, prevailing 5-4 after a 2-2 draw in Istanbul.

• Dejan Lovren went off in the first half at Bournemouth with a knock; Georginio Wijnaldum and Adam Lallana missed that match with minor injuries.

• Fabinho is set to be out until the new year with an injury to his left ankle that he sustained against Napoli on Matchday 5.

• Joël Matip, who signed a new "long-term contract" on 18 October, has played only once since 28 September due to a knee injury.

• Xherdan Shaqiri scored Liverpool's second goal against Everton, his first appearance since Matchday 1 due to a calf complaint.

• Virgil van Dijk was named UEFA Men's Player of the Year for 2018/19 in Monaco on 29 August; the Dutchman also collected the Defender of the Season award, with Alisson taking the Goalkeeper's prize.