Compelling Soccer

Liverpool vs. Lyon

Liverpool: 3 pts, 3rd place in group E, -1 GD

Lyon: 6 pts, 1st place in group E, +5 GD

Stakes: With the EPL season in disarray, Liverpool's best hope for hardware comes in the form of the Champions League. Groin problems or not, the game is important enough that Steven Gerrard will be in the starting XI and Rafa is hoping that's just what the struggling Reds need. This one is a home game for Liverpool, so if they'll need three points if they want to put themselves back into the mix for the knockout stages. They've only got one remaining after this, so they need the points after not getting a result at Fiorentina. Unfortunately, there's no Fernando Torres to go with your helping of Stevie G. For Lyon, a win will pretty much ensure their passage through barring a complete collapse.

Thoughts on the Opposing Side: In my younger days, I had an affinity for the French leagues. These days I know very little about the sides unfortunately. I guess I really have become the Anglo-phile my high school friend accused me of back in the days of our FIFA battles. In any case, Lyon is currently atop Ligue 1. They actually just suffered their first loss of the campaign to a Charlie Davies-less Sochaux squad. Maybe their poor form from that one will transfer over.

Questions I Have: Where will the offense come from? While the return of Gerrard will help, there is still the matter of striker. Torres is arguably the best striker in the world. You cannot replace that. It's not an indictment of Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, David Ngog or Andriy Voronin; it's just facts. And a scoreless draw isn't going to be acceptable here. They need the three points.

Once again, there are questions with the Reds' defense. It is exacerbated if the team can't score enough to make up for the deficiencies.

Will I be Watching: I'll try to catch a peek, but probably won't get much.

Expectations: Things are getting ugly fast. I'll go negative, say they draw 1-1 and hope for a pleasant surprise.