Toulouse vs Liverpool Preview: 2007-08 UEFA Champions League

English Premier League club Liverpool will face Toulouse FC, a French Club, in the third qualifying round of UEFA Champions League 2007-2008. For both the teams, the match has huge importance because the winner of the match will enter in to the group phase of the UEFA Champions League 2007-2008. On the other hand, the looser will enter into the UEFA Cup 2007-2008 first round.

Both Liverpool and Toulouse finished third in their domestic league in last season and thus they have reached at the third qualifying round of UEFA Champions League 2007-2008. The match will be held on 15 August 2007 in France. In terms of strength, Liverpool is ahead of Toulouse but it would not be easy for Liverpool to defeat the French club. As players of both teams will try to ensure their existence in the coming Champions League, they will give their best to win the match.

Liverpool is considered as one of the best teams playing currently in English Premier League. One of the most popular teams in English club football, Liverpool, has 18 Premier League titles along with 5 UEFA Champions League titles in the history of the club. Some of the leading players of different countries are currently playing in Liverpool. On the other hand, Toulouse is not a front line clubs and they do not have any such record in their domestic league. Toulouse could never win French League 1 title yet. However, their performance graph in last season was satisfactory. Their Swedish striker Johan Elmander has become one of the top goal scorers in the French League 1 with 11 goals in the last season.

To tell the truth, for Liverpool, the last season was not impressive as they spent a cup less season. They placed third in the Premier League and failed to win the FA Cup 2007. However, Liverpool became the runner up in UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 as they lost to AC Milan in the final. Liverpool won their last Champions League title in 2005. Liverpool started the new season in English premier league with a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa. So, ahead of the match against Toulouse, Liverpool players are now in relaxed mood.

On the other hand, Toulouse could not start the season successfully. In the first match of the League 1 season, they lost to Valenciennes by 3-1. However, in the second match, Toulouse got an inspirational victory over the defending champion Olympique Lyonnais. Their inform striker Johan Elmander scored the winning goal for Toulouse. Now, the players are determined to do well against English giant Liverpool.

Toulouse FC fans are now dreaming of a memorable incident that the club had gone through in 1986/87 in a UEFA Cup match against Diego Maradona's SSC Napoli. Toulouse won the match and thus Napoli got out of the tournament. Now, ahead of the first leg match, Toulouse FC players will definitely want to repeat the history. Toulouse FC fans are now eagerly waiting to see another historic match in home stadium.

UEFA.Com reported:

The French side, competing in the European Champion Clubs' Cup for the first time in their 70-year history, have enjoyed only two previous seasons in UEFA club competition and the first of those campaigns, in the 1986/87 UEFA Cup, brought a debut to remember. The draw paired Toulouse with SSC Napoli. The glamorous Italian team, who would win the same tournament two years later, attracted a 34,951 crowd to Toulouse's Stadium for the second leg, which the hosts won 1-0 to take the contest into extra time and, eventually, a penalty shoot-out, where Toulouse prevailed 4-3.

Thirty thousand tickets have already been sold and it is expected that the home team is going to have a huge supporters in the stadiums. Coach Elie Baup said that the match against Liverpool would bring them into the spot light and it would be helpful for the side to progress further.

Toulouse has some injury problems in the team. Brazilian midfielder Fabinho has fallen in a neck injury. Argentine Mauro Cetto is going to appear in the Liverpool match as two regular defenders Daniel Congré and Dominique Arribagé are now out of the line up due to their long term injury.

Liverpool has no such problems and the players are now inspired to win the match in order to enter into the group phase of UEFA Champions League 2007-2008. Captain Steven Gerrard must be confident to win the match against Toulouse as Gerrard scored an excellent winning goal from a free kick in their first Premiership match against Aston Villa. As captain is now inspired and in form then you can easily guess the overall situation of the team. For Coach Rafael Benitez, the task would be easy to finalize the line up because he has lot of options in his hand to think about.

It is a matter of surprise that for the last few seasons, Liverpool has been playing well in UEFA Champions League but in Premier League, their performance is not satisfactory. In 2004-2005 season, Liverpool finished fifth in the league whereas in the last two season, Liverpool won third place. On the other hand, in UEFA Champions League, their performance is really very good. Liverpool won UEFA Champions League in 2005 and they were runner up in the last season.

It is not possible to predict anything regarding the result as both the teams seem determined to win the match because winning the match is really very important for both the teams. Liverpool is the runner up of the last season so it is a matter of prestige for the English side. On the other hand, this is a good chance for the French side Toulouse FC to enter into the group stage of the UEFA Champions League becoming a part of the history. Players, fans, officials of both the teams are now eagerly waiting for the match. So, let’s see what is waiting for the fate of the match and who is going to laugh at the end of match.