Six Liverpool players are set to feature in the World Cup quarter finals, representing the Netherlands, England, France and Brazil.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson, Virgil Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Alisson and Fabinho have all made it into the last eight.
England v France:
Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold face the challenge of Ibou Konate’s France side on route to their attempt to ‘bring football home’.
The match will certainly be a difficult one for the both sides, with a close encounter expected between the two sides.
Liverpool captain, Jordan Henderson, could be in line to start his third game in a row for England after a fantastic performance against Senegal in which the midfielder scored the opener.
Trent Alexander-Arnold will almost definitelty start on the bench, and probably will be an unused substitute once again as Gareth Southgate seems to prefer Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier.
Again, Konate may find himself on the bench after missing out in France’s victory over Poland with Deschamps favouring Dayot Upamecano and Raphael Varane instead.
Netherlands v Argentina:
Virgil Van Dijk will captain his country once again as they face the ultimate challenge of keeping Lionel Messi quiet.
Although the Dutchman claims to not be focusing purely on Messi, there is no doubt a large amount of training time will be dedicated to stopping the iconic forward.
The Netherlands will certainly need to reduce the amount of space around their back line, with Virgil Van Dijk, Nathan Ake and Jurien Timber being left almost completely isolated in Holland’s recent games.
An issue that the likes of Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez and Alejandro Gomez will not need a second invitation to exploit.
Brazil v Croatia:
Alisson Becker will continue in goal for Brazil after his world-class performance against South Korea in the last 16, meaning Manchester City’s Ederson will have to settle for a place on the bench again.
It is very unlikely that Fabinho will feature at all in this game, with his minutes so far being limited to their 1-0 defeat to Cameroon in matchday three of the Group Stage where 11 changes were made to the lineup.
Former Red, Dejan Lovren, will start at the heart of defense for Croatia looking to continue his good form at the tournament but will have a hard challenge against the likes of Neymar, Richarlison and Vinicius Junior.