Liverpool Vs. Atletico Madrid are doing this again. Almost exactly a year on from a chaotic 3-2 Anfield thriller that Virgil van Dijk settled with a 92nd-minute winner. The same two clubs kick off the exact same Champions League campaign at the exact same ground. Wednesday’s rematch carries a very different flavor, though, with both sides walking in on wildly different momentum and two managers. Andoni Iraola and Diego Simeone, about to write different chapters of their own European stories.
Liverpool enter as deserved favorites. Fresh off their most complete performance of the season, a 2-0 win at Ipswich that delivered Iraola’s first win as manager. The Reds look sharper and more settled than an Atletico side that just imploded 3-0 at Athletic Bilbao. Expect Liverpool’s attack to find joy early. Atletico to make it uncomfortable in patches the way Simeone’s teams always do, but the hosts to see it out at Anfield.
Betting markets and analysts alike have installed Liverpool as clear favorites, pointing to their stronger attacking numbers and home advantage as the deciding factors. Atletico arrive having won 5, lost 4, and drawn 1 of their last 10 matches across all competitions, averaging 51.4% possession but leaking 1.4 goals per game in that stretch. Ademola Lookman and Alejandro Baena lead their scoring with three goals apiece. Antoine Griezmann has quietly racked up three assists.
Liverpool (4-2-3-1): GK: Alisson DEF: Ronald Araujo, Jeremy Jacquet, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez MID: Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister ATT: Cody Gakpo, Florian Wirtz, Bradley Barcola, Alexander Isak
Atletico Madrid (4-4-2): GK: Jan Oblak DEF: Marcos Llorente, Marc Pubill, David Hancko, Alejandro Grimaldo MID: Giuliano Simeone, Pablo Barrios, Morten Hjulmand, Ademola Lookman ATT: Julian Alvarez, Antoine Griezmann
Liverpool’s absentee list is lengthy but familiar. Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo were both left off the club’s Champions League squad entirely. Hugo Ekitike (Achilles), Conor Bradley (knee), and Giovanni Leoni (knee) remain long-term absences. Joe Gomez is also a doubt with a muscle issue, meaning Van Dijk and loanee Jeremy Jacquet look set to continue as the first-choice center-back pairing.
Atletico’s issues are smaller in number but still notable. Alexander Sorloth misses out entirely with a thigh injury, leaving Simeone thin at center-forward. While Arnau Ortiz is suspended for the trip to Merseyside.
Few storylines have shadowed Atletico’s start to the season quite like Julian Alvarez’s summer. The Argentine forward requested a move to Barcelona before the transfer window closed, a saga that visibly soured the mood around the club just as the new campaign began. He’s since eased his way back into Simeone’s plans. His timing couldn’t be better, arriving right as Sorloth’s injury leaves Atletico desperately short of attacking options up top.
Wednesday marks Andoni Iraola’s first-ever Champions League match in the Liverpool dugout, a genuinely significant milestone for a manager who inherited one of the biggest jobs in world football over the summer. On the opposite touchline sits Diego Simeone, the longest-serving head coach of any club left in this season’s competition, having taken charge at Atletico all the way back in December 2011. There’s an added wrinkle here too: as Rayo Vallecano boss, Iraola faced Simeone’s Atletico four times and never once beat him. He’ll get his fifth crack at it Wednesday night, this time with vastly superior resources at his disposal.
This is Liverpool’s 30th appearance in the Champions League, arriving in the 50th anniversary year of the club’s first European Cup triumph back in Rome in 1977. More relevantly for Wednesday, Liverpool have won six straight League Phase meetings with Spanish opposition, keeping four clean sheets across their last five. That’s a genuinely daunting record for any Atletico side to walk into, let alone one that just conceded three without reply against Athletic Club.
Three points here would give Iraola early breathing room in a competition that offers none once the League Phase table starts to firm up. It would continue Liverpool’s habit of starting continental campaigns strongly at home. For Atletico, a positive result would go a long way toward calming a dressing room still unsettled by the Alvarez saga and quieting questions about Simeone’s tactical setup after such a chastening weekend defeat. Either way, Anfield under the Wednesday-night lights rarely disappoints, and this fixture has already proven once that nothing about it should be considered settled until the final whistle.
Kickoff is Wednesday, September 9 at 8:00 PM BST (3:00 PM ET) at Anfield in Liverpool. Coverage is available through your regional Champions League broadcast partner and standard UEFA streaming outlets.
If you love sports, download Stadium Rant from the Apple App Store and join one of the fastest-growing social sports communities. Be sure to follow us on socials too — you can find all our profiles on our Linktree.
