Score and they will come
Bojan Miovski is all smiles on his way to a double for Aberdeen yesterday. The Dons went on to beat Kilmarnock 4-1, taking their league goals tally at Pittodrie this season to 15. A crowd of 16,348 turned up to see it, but former manager Derek McInnes (inset), looked like he wanted to be elsewhere.
Rangers travel to Anfield on Tuesday night as the underdogs.
They have struggled in their Champions League campaign so far, with heavy defeats to both Ajax and Napoli, conceding seven goals and are yet to find the back of the net.
Liverpool followed up a defeat away to the Italians with a home win against the Dutch champions.
Some people have said that Liverpool are not playing well enough this season, and have still to find a level of consistency.
There was another disppointing result yesterday at home to Brighton.
Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but all Jurgen Klopp will want to do is win their next game. That is always the aim.
Winning consistently breeds confidence, and brings a rhythm to your performances.
A win over Rangers on Tuesday night will help all the other things fall into place.
Players have been missing through injury since the start of the season, and the international break probably came at a good time for the manager.
Jordan Henderson got some minutes under his belt away on England duty, and he is a key player for Liverpool.
He wears the captain’s armband, and his experience, composure and ability on Champions League nights are always vital.
At the top end of the pitch, Jurgen has excellent options to choose from, and they are all capable of scoring goals. Every one of them.
Take your pick from Bobby Firmino, Darwin Nunez, Mo Salah, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota.
They are all match-winners in their own right.
That’s great quality to have at your disposal, and that’s why I think Liverpool will win both at Anfield, and in the return at Ibrox the following week.
What the final score is isn’t important. For Jurgen, it’s all about getting the points in the bag.
But you cannot rule Rangers out completely, that’s for sure.
They have had some terrific results in the past few years away from home in Europe.
The one that sticks out was over in Germany last season against Borussia Dortmund. Giovanni van Bronckhorst and his players produced something very special that night.
It will take a performance even more extraordinary to repeat it at Anfield. The starting point for that would have to be Allan McGregor having an incredible game.
He’s produced breathtaking displays over the years, and he’d need to do it again.
That’s usually the case when an underdog takes on a heavy favourite.
You need your goalie to make four or five top saves, and for the opposition forwards to be a wee bit wasteful in front of goal.
It’s then a case of trying to nick something at the other end.
Overall, I’m looking forward to both games. These Battle of Britain encounters always have that little bit of extra edge to them.
I played for Liverpool against Aberdeen in the European Cup in 1980. We won 1-0 at Pittodrie in the first leg, and were clear favourites to go through.
But we knew there was a hard shift ahead of us at Anfield because Alex Ferguson – he hadn’t been knighted at that point – had a very good team.
He had them fired up, looking to get the opening goal, and Ray Clemence had to make an excellent save to deny Mark
McGhee from putting Aberdeen level on aggregate.
We eventually won 4-0, and I was on the scoresheet. We then went on to lift the trophy that season, beating Real Madrid in the Final in Paris.
However, in any game of football, you must never take anything for granted, and that will be the case on Tuesday night for Liverpool.
The plan for Jurgen and his squad will be to have full points in the bag from this double header.
More often than not, nine points is good enough to get to the knockout stages in the Champions League, and Liverpool will want to achieve that with games to spare.
Celtic also travel away from home this week to play RB Leipzig. Given their last Champions League performance away to Shakhtar Donetsk, they’ll be confident.
Ange Postecoglou has his team playing good football in Europe, but they just need to convert more of the chances they create.
They will aim to leave Germany with three points, but another draw wouldn’t be a bad result, as long as they can win the home game next time out.
Let’s also wish Hearts all the best when they play Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League.
Overall, on the back of Scotland’s three-in-a-row, it’s another big week.