Liverpool have learned of their opponents for the group stages of the 2022/2023 Champions League with the Reds in Group A alongside Ajax, Napoli and Rangers - the latter home to a couple of familiar faces.
The draw in Istanbul was favourable to the four Premier League sides on paper, with all avoiding the likes of Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid from the top-seeded pot. In Dutch champions Ajax, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds drew a side only in the pot 1 because Madrid won the Champions League and La Liga double, while Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli are well-known to the Liverpool boss.
But it is pot 4 that provided the most intriguing opponent, with Scottish side Rangers making a late entry into the competition via Wednesday night’s famous win at PSV Eindhoven. Liverpool and Rangers have never met in European football before, and respective clashes at two historical grounds will make for an electric night under the lights - but while Giovanni Van Bronckhorst’s side present a new challenge, two of his players are known to the red half of Merseyside.
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Just this summer, Ben Davies made the trip north from Liverpool to Glasgow for around £4million after falling some way down the pecking order at Anfield. The 27-year-old arrived at Liverpool in the midst of the 2020/2021 defensive crisis from Preston North End, snubbing a move to Celtic in the process - an early brownie point for ‘Gers fans, no doubt.
The centre-back failed to make any appearances for Klopp’s side during the second-half of the season, however, but impressed in a loan spell last season at Sheffield United with 23 games for the promotion-chasing Blades.
A move across the border in July saw him join up with another former Red - albeit, their paths never crossed - in Ryan Kent, whose time on Merseyside was far longer. Kent joined the Liverpool Academy in 2003, aged just seven, and spent 16 years as a Liverpool player before making his loan at Ibrox permanent.
Unlike Davies, Kent made his competitive debut for the Reds in the third round of the FA Cup in 2016 - a 2-2 draw which would be his only competitive senior appearance - but spent much of his time out on loan at Coventry, Barnsley, Freiburg, Bristol City and then Steven Gerrard’s Rangers in 2018. The winger picked up six goals and six assists in 23 league games during that first campaign in Scotland, earning the then-22-year-old the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year Award.
But despite an electric season under Gerrard, the quality of those ahead of him at Anfield forced Kent out, with Rangers more than happy to take him back to Ibrox for £7.5million. The Oldham-born winger has since been one of the most creative players in Scotland, racking up 30 goals and 48 assists in 179 games for Rangers and scoring in two Old Firm Derbies - more brownie points.
Kent and Davies may both have points to prove when the ties come around. An opportunity for them to cause an upset against their former club will no doubt excite them - the two fixtures, at Anfield and Ibrox, will excite everyone.
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