The centre-back pairing of Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren is a weak link in Liverpool which Borussia Dortmund can exploit, Steffen Freund has told Sky Sports.
The Reds host Jurgen Klopp’s former club at Anfield on Thursday, having earned a valuable 1-1 draw in last week’s Europa League quarter-final first leg in Germany.
But former Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Freund is not panicking because he thinks that Liverpool defenders Lovren and Sakho have mistakes in them.
And, because of this, Freund would encourage Dortmund to take the attack to Liverpool from the first whistle and try to put pressure on the error-prone defenders.
“A good start in the game would be very good,” he told Sky Sports. “Dortmund should attack very early in the first ten minutes. They should try to force Liverpool to make mistakes.
“The central defenders of the Reds are the weakest links – Dejan Lovren and Mamadou Sakho. If they are under pressure, they make mistakes.”
Freund has a fair point. In the Premier League this season, Liverpool have the sixth-best attacking record, but only seven teams have conceded more goals than their 42.
And in Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Dortmund have an attack which is capable of troubling any defence, never mind one which contains Sakho and Lovren.
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