Liverpool to face Milan & Lyon in friendlies during their training camp in Dubai

Liverpool will play two friendly matches during the World Cup break on their warm-weather training camp in Dubai, in order to build match fitness ahead of the Boxing Day restart.

The Reds are set to take on Ligue 1 side Lyon and reigning Serie A champions AC Milan in Dubai on December 11 and 16 respectively.

Jurgen Klopp's side will spend 12 days in the United Arab Emirates as they look to escape the English winter and iron out some of the errors that have cropped up in their underwhelming start to the 2022-23 campaign.

With domestic action halted for the Qatar World Cup, Liverpool are not the only side to stage a warm-weather training camp, and they will be joined in Dubai by Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, while Newcastle will travel to Saudi Arabia.

The Reds are fortunate that they will be with several of their stars despite the staging of the World Cup, due to a number of reasons.

Mohamed Salah's Egypt team failed to qualify, as did Andy Robertson's Scotland, whilst the likes of Roberto Firmino, Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliott failed to earn a call-up to Brazil, Spain and England respectively.

However, due to the quality Klopp can boast in his side there will be a number of players away on international duty in nearby Qatar, leaving the German manager watching on in hope against injury.

And he will be hoping for early exits for the likes of Holland, England and Uruguay, as his players will rejoin the squad in Dubai after their country is eliminated from the tournament.

Klopp will be looking to make good use of the time he has with his squad, after a shock start to the season leaves the Reds in just sixth place in the Premier League with 22 points from 14 games - 15 points behind top-of-the-table Arsenal on 37.

Despite a win over Napoli on the final day of the Champions League group stage, the Reds only qualified in second from their group and now face a gargantuan second round clash with Real Madrid if they are to reach the quarterfinals.

In some ways, then, the mid-season break has almost come at the perfect time for Liverpool, as there are still 24 games in which they can save their season domestically.

Their first match back comes in the Carabao Cup, in a mouth-watering tie against a Manchester City side that will have the majority of their stars in action in Qatar before the clash at the Etihad on December 22 in the Round of 16.