Every club has an opponent who is a thorn in their side — just ask Manchester City after playing Tottenham this weekend. For Liverpool, it’s Real Madrid.
In the last eight meetings between the two teams, Liverpool have failed to win a game. Not even in one leg of a tie. Crucially, Madrid have ousted them in two Champions League finals in that time (2017-18 and 2021-22). Last season they dumped them out of the last 16 with a 6-2 aggregate win. In the last decade and a half, it’s always ended in tears against Los Blancos.
Liverpool couldn’t turn the tide against Madrid with one of their greatest managers in recent memory, Jurgen Klopp, in charge. So can Arne Slot find a solution at Anfield Wednesday night? Judging by how easy Liverpool have made this season’s title race look, getting a win over Real Madrid shouldn’t be rocket science.
The Reds are cruising eight points clear at the Premier League’s summit after their nervy 3-2 win over basement boys Southampton Sunday, allowing them to take the initiative after City’s 4-0 hammering at home to Spurs. Real Madrid, meanwhile, are second in La Liga and trail rivals Barcelona by four points, though they have a game in hand.
European play is usually where Real Madrid come alive. They have absolutely dominated the competition, winning it an incredible 15 times, including last season. But the reigning champions of Europe are struggling this term. They started the week down in 18th place after two wins and two defeats — a 1-0 loss to Lille and then a 3-1 beating at home to AC Milan.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have won all four of their games and look almost nailed on for qualification to the knockouts. The pressure is all on Madrid now. They’ve got to get more wins on the board and Liverpool should be bracing for an all-out assault on Anfield. Madrid are starting to pick up some form, too. In their two games since the Milan defeat, they’ve netted seven goals, with Vinicius Jr netting a hat-trick, Jude Bellingham bagging two and Kylian Mbappe scoring once. While Vinicius is out injured, you’d imagine Slot has plans for the other two.
But Liverpool have danger men of their own. Mohamed Salah has four goals in four games. Cody Gakpo has four in five. Luis Diaz scored a hat-trick in his last Champions League game as the Reds ran riot 4-0 against Bayer Leverkusen, who went last season unbeaten in Germany.
Slot’s side have done all this while dealing with their fair share of injuries this season. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker has been missing for a long spell and continues to be out, joining Diogo Jota, Kostas Tsimikas and Federico Chiesa on the sidelines. The good news is that Trent Alexander-Arnold has trained this week and could be in contention, though Slot has confirmed he won’t start. Expect Conor Bradley to continue at right-back. Harvey Elliott is also back for Liverpool and could feature at some point and we could also see Diaz and Alexis Mac Allister start here having been rested against Southampton.
Real Madrid have a few injury blows to contend with, too. In addition to losing Vinicius after he injured his hamstring in the 3-0 win over Leganes, Rodrygo is also unavailable. That will be a huge blow to their attacking threat. The Brazilian pair join David Alaba, Lucas Vazquez, Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao in a crowded physio room, with the latter two out for the season.
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Liverpool vs Real Madrid odds
Venue: Anfield — Liverpool
Time: 8 p.m. GMT (3 p.m. ET), Wednesday
Form guide
Liverpool: 4-0-0 in UCL, 12 points (1st)
Last five (all competitions): W-W-W-W-W
Real Madrid: 2-0-2 in UCL, 6 points (18th)
Last five (all competitions): W-W-L-L-W
Match prediction
Liverpool 2-1 Real Madrid
I expect Liverpool’s electric start to the season, both domestically and in Europe, to continue against Madrid and finally break their long hoodoo against the La Liga giants. The momentum is there for Liverpool, who have won 13 of their last 14 matches. Madrid haven’t been themselves in Europe this season and the injuries to Vinicius and Rodrygo will hurt them. That should be enough to make Liverpool slight favourites. This will be a spicy encounter with lots of technical quality on show, but I can see Slot’s men continuing to flex their muscles and edging it.
More Champions League coverage
Trent Alexander-Arnold to return to Liverpool squad, could play role from bench vs Real Madrid
Champions League Projections: Who has performed above or below expectation at the halfway point?
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez criticises FIFA, UEFA over football calendar
(Photo of Luis Diaz: Carl Recine / Getty Images)
