Liverpool will hope to book their spot in this season’s Champions League group stage when they met Hoffenheim in the second leg of their play-off on Wednesday night.

The Reds won 2-1 in the return fixture in Germany last week and will hope to advance to the group stage for just the second time in the past eight seasons.

Here we look at five talking points ahead of a crucial fixture for Jurgen Klopp’s Reds.

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SHOULD LIVERPOOL ALTER THEIR APPROACH?

Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann expects their hosts on Wednesday to be more patient given they hold the slender advantage from the first leg and do not need an early goal. Liverpool know they may not even need to score to advance, but will Klopp abandon his normal methods to try to hold on to what they have got? That would certainly represent faith in a defence that few pundits have.

WILL THE ANFIELD ATMOSPHERE BE A FACTOR?

Fabled European nights at Anfield have been missing since May 2016, before the new Main Stand at the stadium was redeveloped, and Klopp is hoping his players can feed off the noise created by the home support. The Reds have won five of the six European games Klopp has taken charge of at Anfield, beating Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund and Villarreal en route to the Europa League final two seasons ago.

IS ANDREW ROBERTSON THE MAN FOR THE LEFT-BACK SPOT?

Klopp started the season by utilising back-in-favour Alberto Moreno on the left-hand side of his defence as summer signing Robertson was made to wait. However, an impressive first performance in the red shirt from the Scot against Crystal Palace on Saturday may have swayed his manager’s thinking in one of his biggest selection dilemmas for the second leg.

AND WILL DANIEL STURRIDGE DROP OUT?

While Robertson staked his claim to remain in the team with his showing against Palace, England forward Sturridge did little for his chances with his hour-long display at the weekend. Klopp will surely restore Egyptian flyer Mohamed Salah to his starting XI and that means one of his attacking options has to revert to the bench, and Sturridge looks the most likely candidate.

CAN HOFFENHEIM BE PRETTY AND EFFECTIVE?

Despite losing in the first leg, Hoffenheim midfielder Kerem Demirbay, a former youth player with Klopp’s old club Borussia Dortmund, declared that his team “play better football than Liverpool”. Klopp’s response was to state that it was “not like ice-skating where you are judged on the beauty”, and Liverpool’s opponents must be more than just aesthetically pleasing if they are to spring a shock.