PreviewEuropa League opposition lowdown: Toulouse

Anfield will play host to the Reds’ third group-stage game versus the Ligue 1 club on Thursday October 26, with Stadium de Toulouse the venue for the reverse fixture two weeks later.

Learn more about Le Tefece with our guide to the opposition…

Toulouse qualified for the group phase of the Europa League by virtue of winning last season’s Coupe de France.

That success – crowned by a 5-1 rout of Nantes in April’s final in Paris – was the highlight of a campaign that saw them finish 13th upon their return to Ligue 1, after they won the Ligue 2 title in 2021-22.

Thijs Dallinga was Toulouse’s top scorer last term – the 23-year-old forward struck 18 times in 42 appearances – but Zakaria Aboukhlal has led the way in goals so far in 2023-24.

The Morocco attacker netted three times in his side’s first four top-flight matches, including a late penalty to earn a 1-1 home draw with Paris Saint-Germain, to help them sit 12th on five points during the ongoing international break.

Those four fixtures represented the first senior matches of new boss Carles Martinez’s managerial career.

Martinez, a 39-year-old whose past includes a five-year coaching stint in Barcelona’s youth system, initially joined the club last December as assistant head coach and was promoted to the top job when Philippe Montanier left the post in the summer.

Toulouse’s president is a familiar face: Damien Comolli, Liverpool’s former director of football who spent around 18 months at Anfield before his departure in 2012.

This will be the fifth European campaign in Toulouse’s history, and their first since a group-stage exit in the Europa League in 2009-10, and they have met the Reds before, too.

Liverpool ran out 5-0 aggregate victors, with Dirk Kuyt scoring twice in a 4-0 second-leg win at Anfield, in a Champions League qualification tie in August 2007.

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