Category World News

Who: Liverpool vs. Marseille
What: Match day 7 (of 8), league phase, UEFA Champions League
Where: Stade Velodrome in Marseille, France
When: Wednesday at 9pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 17:00 GMT in advance of our text commentary stream.

Liverpool travels to southern France to face Marseille in their final group match as they cultivate top-eight ambitions in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) hierarchy.

The Reds, who have won three of their final four UCL games, are currently ninth in the standings and face a risky playoff round if they can’t advance in their final two games.

With only three points left to play for in their clash against the English Premier League champions, Marseille are also in top-eight contention.

The crucial game on Wednesday may determine which team will ultimately advance to the last 16 and which will win the playoff.

Mohamed Salah’s opponent: Marseilles?

Following the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco on Tuesday, Mohamed Salah made his eagerly awaited return to Liverpool’s training.

At the club’s training facility, the Egypt forward was gentle exercised while he was with the rest of the squad.

Since taking aim at Liverpool in an egregious interview early last month, Salah has been a major talking point since claiming that he had never had a relationship with manager Arne Slot and that they had never been in contact with him. He also claimed in an interview that they had been “under the bus” about his three consecutive games of benching.

However, he made an assist-filled substitute appearance for Brighton in the 2-0 Premier League victory on December 13 and Slot later claimed the team had overcame the furore.

Slot vowed to return last week, saying he was “happy” Salah would, but he would not reveal the details of his conversations with the 33-year-old.

The Liverpool manager expressed doubts about the forward’s future against Marseille.

As Liverpool won their 20th English league title last year, Salah won the Premier League Golden Boot after scoring 29 league goals, but he has only managed four goals this campaign.

Marseille is in the lead with Englishman Greenwood and Ligue 1 Golden Boot.

With 12 goals in 17 games for Marseille, the former Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood is the top scorer in the Ligue 1 from 2026 to 2026.

With a thumping 5-2 victory over Angers, Marseille kept up the pressure at the top of the table on Saturday, and he continued his hot scoring run. He scored in the 24th minute to cap a tense 5-2 victory.

Greenwood led Marseille to an impressive 2024-2025 season, where he finished with 21 goals, a feat that included Paris Saint-Germain legend Ousmane Dembele.

The 24-year-old joined Manchester United from 2018 to 2018 and started for the Red Devils, scoring 22 goals in 83 games.

Five years ago, Greenwood only made his one England appearance, which was a close call against Iceland.

In what position does the Champions League match between Marseille and Liverpool stand?

Liverpool are currently ninth in the Champions League group stage with 12 points after two game days left.

Marseille have won three of their six matches while falling to 16th place. With nine points, they are one of five.

How many league teams make the last 16 automatically?

The round of 16 is automatically drawn up for the top eight league teams.

Teams that finish ninth through 24th will face a two-legged knockout playoff round, with the winners advancing to the tournament’s last 16 if they place.

When did the Champions League’s final victory come against Liverpool and Marseille?

Liverpool have won the UEFA Champions League six times, most recently under the leadership of Jurgen Klopp in the 2018-2019 campaign.

With a 1-0 victory over AC Milan, Marseille won their only UEFA Champions League title in 1993.

When did Liverpool last play in the Champions League against Marseille?

For the first time since the 2008-2009 campaign, Liverpool and Marseille will face off in the Champions League.

In Champions League history, Liverpool and Liverpool have met four times, and the French side leads 3-1.

news from the Liverpool team

Just days after Salah returned from AFCON, Slot has remained tittered about whether the Egyptian star will have a run against Marseille.

Alexander Isak, a star offseason signing, is expected to miss the next few weeks with a leg injury. Lower body injuries are also affecting Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley.

Liverpool’s predicted starting lineup (4-2-3-1):

Alisson (goalkeeper), Frimpong, Konate, van Dijk, van Dijk, van Dijk, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike, and others.

news from the Marseille team

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a striker from Gabon who also participated in the AFCON, has a strong chance of making his return to Marseille when they face Liverpool.

Ruben Blanco and Derek Cornelius will not be able to play under the new coach Roberto De Zerbi.

Marseille’s predicted starting lineup (4-2-3-1):

Rulli (goalkeeper), Murillo, Balerdi, Medina, Emerson, O’Riley, Hojbjerg, Weah, Greenwood, Paixao, Aubameyang, and others

Final five games

Marseille: W-L-L-W-W (last most recent result in all competitions)

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, questioned Donald Trump’s trustworthiness after he announced new tariffs on European allies over Greenland. She said a July trade deal must be honoured and warned the move was a “mistake.”

Despite the ceasefire with Hamas, Israeli aid restrictions continue, making Shaba Abu Jarad the ninth child in Gaza to die from icy weather this winter.

But not all of Trump’s changes are necessarily built to last. Already, Trump is bracing for this year’s midterm elections, which could result in one or both chambers of Congress switching party control.

“If we don’t win the midterms, I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump told a gathering of Republican lawmakers earlier this month.

And while Trump has teased the prospect of running for an unconstitutional third term, the law limits him to only two. That opens the possibility that the presidency could change parties in 2028 as well.

“Assuming a Democratic administration follows the Trump administration, much of Trump’s agenda and changes will be undone as quickly as possible,” Updegrove said.

“From executive orders to gold-leaf stencil on the White House walls, a lot of it can be undone.”

But there are downstream effects, the historian warned, that may not become apparent until well after Trump’s presidency. The speed of the change has rendered them somewhat invisible.

“When you think about this muzzle-velocity stuff, there are some things that we don’t even realize has happened,” Updegrove said.

He pointed to the loss of institutional knowledge after Trump’s widespread layoffs as an example of decisions with as-yet unseen consequences.

“Even the things that we know have gone through, we don’t see the full effects and won’t for many years.”

And yet, Updegrove speculates that a lack of velocity in one critical area may prove to be the downfall of Trumpism: economic growth.

The consumer prices repeatedly topped polls of voter concerns in the 2024 election, and Trump had promised that, “starting on day one”, he would “end inflation and make America affordable again”.

But Updegrove says average Americans are not seeing the promised turnaround in their pocketbooks.

“If we successfully turn the tide on Trump, I don’t know that it will ultimately be driven by our fear of the erosion of our democracy, rather than a dissatisfaction with the pace of economic change,” he said.