Liverpool needed a late Roberto Firmino injury-time goal to progress past Mexican side Monterrey to reach the final of this year’s FIFA Club World Cup. They’ll face off against Brazilian side Flamengo who have lost only one match in their last 26 in all competitions. Can Jurgen Klopp’s Reds lift the trophy on Saturday evening, and where can we find value in the betting markets?
Both Teams To Score – 6/10
Liverpool’s Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson has kept a few clean sheets of late (against Bournemouth, Salzburg and Watford). However, since returning from that long injury he’s played 14 matches and has only kept those three clean sheets. Add to this that Virgil van Dijk sat out Wednesday’s match against Monterrey and will probably miss this match again through illness and you can see why we’re looking at Both Teams to Score.
Liverpool have scored in all but two of their matches so far this season across all competitions, they failed to score in their away Champions League match against Napoli and the other night against Aston Villa in the League Cup, so that one doesn’t really count.
For Flamengo they’ve scored in 29/31 previous matches in all competitions and if anything has ever looked nailed on, it’s Both Teams to Score, so it’s our first bet here at 6/10.
Over 1.5 First Half Goals – 11/8
There have been 10 first half goals across Liverpool’s five most recent matches (we’re not counting that Aston Villa Cup match) and for Flamengo there were also 10 goals scored in the first half of their five most recent matches.
We saw against Monterrey that Liverpool love to come out all guns blazing when up against tough opposition and it’ll be the same here. Flamengo will be no pushovers and Klopp loves going with a shock-and-awe strategy at the beginning of matches when facing serious teams.
Flamengo are known for using similar tactics against the better sides and with the likes of Gabriel Barbosa (25 goals in 29 league matches) and Bruno Henrique (21 in 33) up front they’ll not be shy in the first half.
Liverpool to Win – 1/2
With Sadio Mane, Firmino and Mo Salah all on the field on Wednesday we saw just how good Liverpool can be when they need to, only Salah started the match with the other two coming on in the second half.
Flamengo are a good side, there’s no doubt about that, one that is full of goals and attacking football, but coming up against a front three of Mane, Firmino and Salah their defence isn’t used to facing such quality. While it probably won’t be plain sailing for the Reds they should do the business over the 90 minutes. Liverpool to Win at 1/2.
Bet Summary
A £/€1 treble on these three selections returns £/€4.40 including stake on pp.com. Odds correct at time of posting, subject to change.
Liverpool 1/2, Draw 7/2, Flamengo 7/2