• If Liverpool win this match and Chelsea beat Real Betis, Liverpool will qualify for the last 16 of this season's Champions League.

  Head-to-Head

• Liverpool have played Anderlecht three times before in European competition, in the second round of the 1964/65 Champions Cup and two weeks ago. Liverpool won all three matches, 3-0 in England and two 1-0 wins in Belgium. In total, the Merseysiders have hosted a Belgian club three times, winning all three.
• Anderlecht will be visiting England for the 14th time and their previous visits have brought a single draw and 12 defeats. The draw was at Tottenham Hotspur (1-1) in the second leg of the 1983/84 Uefa Cup final but the match still brought disappointment as Spurs won the penalty shoot out 4-3.
• Liverpool have never lost to a Belgian club in a total of eight matches at all venues.

  European history

• Liverpool have won the Champions Cup/Champions League five times with the most recent coming in May when they won their first Champions League on penalties from AC Milan. Their previous successes came in 1977, '78, '81 and '84. They have also won three Uefa Cups and three Uefa Super Cups. This season is Liverpool's fourth in the Champions League and their 33rd in European competition.
• Anderlecht's greatest successes have come in the lesser European competitions with victory in the 1976 and '78 Cup Winners' Cup and the 1983 Uefa Cup. The Belgians are playing in Europe for the 46th time having only failed to participate in 1957/58, 1958/59, 1960/61, 1961/62 and 1963/64. It is Anderlecht's seventh Champions League season. Their best performance is in the quarter-final group phase in 1993/94. Anderlecht's other seasons have tended to end with them finishing last in the group phase but they did progress past the first group phase in 2000/01.

  Current European form

• Liverpool are second in Group G but have the same points (seven) as group leaders Chelsea. A win coupled with a Chelsea win at Betis will guarantee Liverpool's participation in the last 16 of this season's Champions League.
• Anderlecht are last in Group G having lost all three matches this season.
• Liverpool are unbeaten for 11 matches in the Champions League since losing 1-0 at AS Monaco in November 2004. This is the joint ninth longest unbeaten run ever in the Champions League. The English record is held by Manchester United, who have had two unbeaten runs of 16 matches in the competition.
• Anderlecht have lost their last 10 Champions League matches, a competition record.
• Anderlecht have lost their last seven Champions League away matches. If they lose at Liverpool, it will be the joint third longest streak ever. The record holder is Rosenborg with 11 straight away defeats between 1999 and 2002.
• Anderlecht have failed to score in their last four Champions League matches which equals the Belgian record in the competition held by RC Genk. Deportivo La Coruna hold the competition record with a running streak of eight matches without scoring. The Belgians have not drawn home or away in Europe for 19 matches since drawing 1-1 at home to Bayern Munich in September 2003. Club Brugge hold the Belgian record going 31 matches without a draw from 1967 to 1976.

• Player and disciplinary info

• No players are suspended for this match.
• Liverpool's Xabi Alonso and Jose Manuel Reina will be suspended for the next group game if they are booked.
• Florent Sinama Pongolle scored the first goal of this season's Champions League, netting in the second minute (87 seconds to be precise) of Liverpool's 2-1 win at Real Betis.
• If Fernando Morientes makes his Champions League debut for Liverpool, he will be the most experienced player from either side on the pitch having already played 70 matches.
• Morientes has also scored 26 CL goals, more than any other player in the Liverpool squad and good enough for eighth place in the all-time Champions League table.
• Morientes has also won three Champions League titles already in 1998, 2000 and 2002.
• Jamie Carragher is Liverpool's record holder for matches played in the Champions League with 36. Carragher's teammates Sami Hyypia and John Arne Riise are one match behind on 35.
• Luis Garcia equalled Michael Owen's club record six Champions League goals when he scored in Betis in their opening group match. He will become Liverpool's top scorer ever in the Champions League with his next goal.
• Jerzy Dudek (44) and Harry Kewell (20) are the record appearance makers in the Champions League for Poland and Australia respectively.
• Djibril Cisse's winner for Liverpool at Anderlecht was Liverpool's 450th goal in European competition.
• Anderlecht midfielder Walter Baseggio will equal the club record for matches played in the competition if he plays against Liverpool. The record of 29 matches is held by Bertrand Crasson.
• Anthony Vanden Borre was the fourth youngest player to play in the Champions League when he made his debut last season against Valencia at the age of 16 years and 326 days.
• The youngest player ever to play in the competition, Celestine Babayaro was also playing for Anderlecht at the time.
• Par Zetterberg is Anderlecht's most experienced Champions League player with 32 appearances in the competition. Anderlecht's Besnik Hasi is one of only six Albanian players to have played Champions League football. His 21 appearances are more than double that of the next Albanian.

  Other miscellaneous facts

• If Liverpool concede three goals, they will have let in 200 in European competition.
• Two goals conceded means that Liverpool will have recorded 100 goals against in Champions Cup/Champions League.
• If Liverpool score three goals, they will have scored 50 in the Champions League.
• Liverpool, along with Artmedia Bratislava, are the first team to negotiate all three rounds of qualification to reach the Champions League group phase.
• Xabi Alonso and Boudewijn Zenden scored to hand Liverpool a 2-0 win over West Ham on Saturday.
• With 13 points from nine matches, the Reds are in 13th place in the Premiership.
• Anderlecht drew 2-2 with Lokeren in the Belgian Jupiler League on Saturday. Serhat Akin and Christian Wilhelmsson scored for them.
• Anderlecht are currently second in the Belgian top flight, two points behind leaders Standard Liege.

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