Liverpool’s predicted XI vs. Atletico Madrid as Champions League campaign begins
Liverpool get their Champions League campaign up and running on Wednesday night when they welcome familiar foes Atletico Madrid to Anfield.
After meeting in the league phase last September, they do so again a year on. It will be Andoni Iraola’s first game managing at this level; his only other previous European experience was in the 2018-19 Europa League with AEK Larnaca.
Liverpool go into it on the back of a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town on Friday, with Alexander Isak scoring a brace inside the opening 10 minutes. Both goals were assisted by a rejuvenated Cody Gakpo.
Atleti, on the other hand, are aiming to make up for a 3-0 defeat to Athletic Club on Saturday. Curiously, it was a game in which they bettered most of the stats, except for the one that mattered most.
Wednesday’s clash is one of the most enticing of matchday one, along with Arsenal’s trip to Napoli and Real Madrid’s hosting of Inter Milan.
Iraola may be tempted to stick with a similar lineup to the one he used against Ipswich, providing his players are in good shape.
Ronald Araujo made a decent impression at right-back on Friday and stands a good chance of keeping his place, especially against a Spanish team as a player who spent the past seven seasons playing in La Liga.
However, it’s Liverpool’s other signing from La Liga, Victor Munoz, that might be most at risk of dropping out of the starting XI from Friday.
The former Osasuna winger offered some pace, but given Gakpo’s impact, it feels like he would be more threatened than the Dutchman if Iraola wanted to introduce Bradley Barcola into the starting lineup.
And after Barcola’s cameo off the bench, this could be the big occasion to hand him a full debut.
Other than that, it might well be the same other 10 players that featured from the start against Ipswich. The only question if Barcola does come in for Munoz is whether that’s to play on the right-hand side or on the left, with Gakpo switching flanks instead.
In terms of injury updates, Iraola remains unable to call upon Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni and Joe Gomez. He has also left Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo out of his Champions League squad.
With all that in mind, here’s how we think Liverpool will line up against Atletico Madrid.
Liverpool predicted XI vs Atletico Madrid
GK: Alisson Becker
RB: Ronald Araujo
CB: Jeremy Jacquet
CB: Virgil van Dijk
LB: Milos Kerkez
CM: Ryan Gravenberch
CM: Dominik Szoboszlai
RW: Bradley Barcola
CAM: Florian Wirtz
LW: Cody Gakpo
ST: Alexander Isak
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