Barely more than a year ago - a mere 481 days back - Liverpool were lining up for a Champions League final, their third in five seasons. They were defeated by Real Madrid, but Jurgen Klopp’s side were comfortably among Europe’s top clubs and, until the final weeks of that season, were still on course to win a quadruple.
Fast forward those 481 days and the Reds instead are lining up at the Raiffeisen Arena, a brand new stadium in Linz, Austria, where in opponents LASK’s most recent home fixture, a total of 10,000 fans were in attendance. It does hold more - a capacity crowd of 19,000 turned up for the derby a month prior - but that’s still a far cry from the 75,000 at the Stade de France in May 2022, or the regular 50,000 in attendance at a mid-expansion Anfield.
