Liverpool take on Bayern Munich tonight knowing that a victory or score draw will be enough to see them progress to the Champions League quarter-finals.
The contest is finely poised after a goalless draw at Anfield in February and both European giants will be going all out at the Allianz Arena to secure progression.
However, for Jurgen Klopp’s side to do this they will need to buck a worrying trend that has seen them lose their last four away games in the Champions League having only scored three goals and conceded nine in return.
In that, the Reds have never lost five in a row in European competition in their history and this is undoubtedly a record the current crop of players don’t want to start setting now.
What slightly goes against them though is a historical trend that has seen most teams drawing 0-0 away from home in the first leg of a Champions League knockout tie end up progressing to the next round – a total of 21 out of 31.
Bayern Munich will also be attempting to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the eighth consecutive season, last failing at the round of 16 stage in 2010/11 against Inter Milan.
This is a small mountain to climb but shutting out the defending Bundesliga champions at Anfield without Virgil van Dijk commanding in the heart of defence will give Klopp’s men a lot of hope of keeping another clean sheet with the Dutchman restored after suspension.
Of course, another thing they will know is that they are a team that is feared across Europe – not least because they made it to the Champions League final last term.
And what must count for something is that the Reds have never lost a European game in front of their home fans during Klopp’s stewardship, winning 13 and drawing four of his 17 games in charge.
In comparison, however, Liverpool have won just five of 18 continental matches away from Anfield, with one of them coming in the not so exotic location of Manchester.
Miserable defeats to Napoli and Red Star in this season’s group-stages having added weight to the issue.
As good as the Reds were in the Champions League last season, Klopp’s side won just once outside of England in Europe’s elite competition during the last calendar year.
A glorious 5-0 performance away in Porto was followed up by a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Manchester City in the next round to book a semi-final berth.
But since then, the Reds have fallen to five successive defeats away from Anfield, toiling in Rome, Kiev, Naples, Belgrade and Paris.
As ever though, knockout stage games of the Champions League should be taken on a case-by-case basis and with the unquestionably excellent preparation Klopp’s side will have carried out before this match on the continent and with their arsenal of world-class players they could easily kick these worrying trends and statistics into touch.
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