Virgil van Dijk's milestone as captain and 15 more pre-LASK stats
Virgil van Dijk is in line to captain Liverpool for the 200th time against LASK on Wednesday night.
The centre-half can become just the eighth Red in history to bring up a double-century of matches wearing the armband.
If he leads the team out at Raiffeisen Arena, Van Dijk will join the company of Steven Gerrard (470), Ron Yeats (417), Emlyn Hughes (335), Donald MacKinlay (293), Jordan Henderson (268), Alex Raisbeck (267) and Sami Hyypia (204).
Read more facts and figures, supplied by club statistician Ged Rea, about the Champions League tie in Austria below…
Liverpool are aiming to win their opening two games of a group stage/league phase for the fifth time in the last seven European campaigns.
LASK are one of five Austrian opponents the Reds have faced, alongside Austria Wien, Swarovski Tirol, AK Graz and Red Bull Salzburg.
The Reds have won eight of their 10 encounters with teams from Austria, losing only once – at Anfield to AK Graz in a 2004-05 Champions League qualifier.
None of Liverpool's last 44 European games have ended in a draw since a 3-3 affair with Benfica at Anfield in April 2022.
They have not had a goalless draw in their last 82 Champions League group-stage/league-phase matches since an away game at PSV Eindhoven in 2006-07.
The Reds could keep a third successive away clean sheet in all competitions for the first time since January 2024.
Andoni Iraola's men have won all three games this season when they have scored the opening goal.
Alexis Mac Allister has netted six Champions League goals for Liverpool, with all coming at Anfield.
In September 2023, LASK became the 135th of the now 139 different clubs Liverpool have faced in Europe.
When the teams first met each other in Linz, Van Dijk, Wataru Endo, Kostas Tsimikas and Ryan Gravenberch started for the Reds, while Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Joe Gomez made appearances from the bench.
Andres Andrade, George Bello, Florian Flecker, Sascha Horvath and Moses Usor featured for LASK that night and remain at the club.
This will be the first time Liverpool have played in Europe on October 14. They have not won in the last four games played on this particular date, drawing the last three.
LASK are playing their 17th season of major European competition and their third in the premier tournament.
They have not won any of their last eight UEFA competition group-stage/league-phase fixtures and began their 2026-27 campaign with a 1-0 loss away to AEK Athens.
This is LASK's 14th match of the season, which started on July 25, and they have won eight, drawn one and lost four.
