Liverpool welcome Atlético Madrid to Anfield on Wednesday evening in what is Andoni Iraola’s first taste of Champions League football.
By Sam McGuire
The story of the season
The Reds travelled to Portman Road on Friday evening and picked up their first win of the Iraola reign. For a third successive game, Liverpool scored twice. This time, they managed to keep a clean sheet. A welcomed first for Iraola and his new-look defence, with the former Bournemouth boss naming a back four made up of Ronald Araújo, Jérémy Jacquet, Vigil van Dijk and Milos Kerkez.
Alexander Isak netted a double, his first for the club, with two well-taken efforts. The first was a venomous strike that seemed to catch the Ipswich shot-stopper out due to the sheer pace of the drive. The second was the complete opposite. The No. 9 latched onto an exquisite pass from Cody Gakpo and showed great composure in the box to create an opening before passing the ball into the back of the net.
It was a much-needed win for the Reds, especially ahead of a busy few weeks across multiple competitions prior to the international break.
Though the narrative wouldn’t necessarily have you believe it, the Reds are still unbeaten under the Spanish tactician.
Atlético Madrid, meanwhile, have had a bit of a varied start to the season. Diego Simeone’s side are sixth in LaLiga with two wins, a draw and a loss from their opening four. They lost 3-0 last time out to Athletic Club, crumbling in the second half with the hosts scoring two goals in two minutes after the break.
Atlético are struggling this term. Only two teams have a lower Expected Goals total, even bottom of the table Valencia with their one goal have a higher xG (3.9). Defensively, they’re not having the best team either with an Expected Goals Conceded total of 6.1, a figure which sees them rank 13th in the Spanish top-flight.
Key Players
Liverpool have spent a lot of money in recent times on high level attackers. Bradley Barcola became the latest £100million attacker to call Anfield home when he completed his move from Paris Saint-Germain just before the transfer window closed. He made his debut against Ipswich, coming off of the bench as he looked to build-up match fitness. Florian Wirtz has been criticised while Isak has found his scoring boots with three in three.
However, the key player for the Reds is Cody Gakpo. The Dutch international now has three assists and a goal in 251 minutes in the Premier League.
For Atleti, the main man and difference maker on Wednesday could be Ademola Lookman. Often deployed on the left flank, he’ll either come up against Ronald Araújo, a centre-back by trade, or Jeremie Frimpong, a wing-back by nature. It’s an area of weakness for the Reds and one that the former Everton youngster could exploit.
Team News
The visitors are without the injured Alexander Sørloth and the suspended Arnau Ortiz. Julián Alvarez may start after getting a decent chunk of minutes off of the bench against Athletic Club and Diego Simeone will need his star man to live up to the billing. He’s been out of the team since a move to Barcelona was blocked.
Liverpool are still without Joe Gomez, Hugo Ekitike, Giovanni Leoni and Conor Bradley while Wataru Endo and Fede Chiesa weren’t registered for the Champions League squad. The Reds have options but the depth isn’t what it could well be.
Prediction
We’re going for a narrow Liverpool win, with both teams likely to score, in a similar fashion to the last clash between these two sides at Anfield: Liverpool 2-1 Atlético.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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