Super Cup: Jurgen Klopp and Frank Lampard go head-to-head in European showpiece
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Updated 14/08/2019 at 15:36 GMT
The Champions League winners Liverpool take on the Europa League champions Chelsea at Besiktas' Vodafone Park on Wednesday night to decide who will lift the 44th UEFA Super Cup. It's Klopp vs Lampard. Who will come out on top?
Jurgen Klopp, Frank Lampard
Image credit: Eurosport
Liverpool going for six
Klopp has challenged his players to "stay greedy" as they have an opportunity to win six pieces of silverware this season - the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, the Club World Cup and.... the Super Cup. He told UEFA.com:
Stay greedy. That’s very important - I have no doubt about that, but it’s clear that we have to do that.
He added: "The Super Cup is obviously the final proof; if you are not in that game, it means you didn’t win the final.
"That’s completely different this year, so we’re looking forward to it. It’s a big one, it’s a wonderful city.
It could have been seven had Liverpool not lost to Manchester City on penalties in the Community Shield.
But for Klopp, the fact he has twice missed out on featuring in a Super Cup final - losing two separate Champions League finals with Dortmund and Liverpool - could make for an energised Liverpool side on the pitch in Turkey.
Lampard chasing first silverware
Lampard has said his Chelsea team "desperately want to win" the Super Cup - a trophy he never lifted as a player.
"We need to be absolutely ready," Lampard told UEFA.com.
"It's a cup that the club desperately wants to win. I've never won it, a lot of players in there have never won it, so we have to give it everything."
Chelsea are coming off a heavy 4-0 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday which could see Lampard ring the changes to his starting XI.
The 41-year-old club legend will want to appease the Chelsea fans quickly and bounce back from the deflating defeat. What better way than some silverware.
How will Adrian fare?
An injury to Alisson gives Adrian the chance to shine as Liverpool's number one - for now.
The 32-year-old Spaniard joined the club on a free transfer in the summer, after his release from West Ham, and is comfortably Liverpool's number two.
But a confident display in a European final could give Klopp a selection dilemma in around four weeks time when Alisson does return.
“He looked very good and very sharp from the first session he had with us but of course now we need to be careful [and] pack him in cotton wool pretty much," Klopp told the Liverpool club website.
“He’s a really, really good goalie and a really good person and since he was in he looked really well, and that’s it.”
Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Frappart will lead a team of predominantly female officials in a groundbreaking move by UEFA.
Asked if she was afraid of being "double criticised" for any mistakes made, Frappart said it was time for female referees to show they are as good as the men.
"We have to prove ourselves technically and physically that we are the same as the men. We are not afraid about (wrong decisions). We are ready," she told a news conference.
Frappart, 35, will be assisted by her French compatriot Manuela Nicolosi and Ireland's Michelle O'Neill.
The trio have worked together at bigger matches – they were in charge of this year's Women's World Cup final in France – but there is no doubt they will be under intense focus at Istanbul's Vodafone Park.
Team news
N'Golo Kante is expected to be fit enough to start for Chelsea in Istanbul. He came off the bench at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Liverpool will not have Alisson with them on Wednesday. He is ruled out for four weeks with a calf injury picked up in their Premier League opener against Norwich on Friday evening.
Dejan Lovren is absent due to illness while emergency goalkeeper signing Andy Lonergan is in the travelling squad.
Adrian is expected to start while Klopp has confirmed Sadio Mane will be ready to play.
Did you know...
- There will be no Spanish team present in the UEFA Super Cup final for the first time since 2013.
- Lampard appeared in two of Chelsea’s three Super Cup finals as a player, losing both (4-1 to Atletico Madrid in 2012 and on 5-4 penalties against Bayern Munich in the following year).
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