Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid: Champions League – preview, teams, prediction

Who: Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid What: Champions League, league phase Where: Anfield, Liverpool, United Kingdom When: Wednesday, September 9, at 8pm (19:00 GMT) How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up from 16:00 GMT ahead of our live text commentary stream

Liverpool and Atletico Madrid kick off their 2026-27 Champions League campaigns with a mouthwatering league-phase game at Anfield.

Andoni Iraola got his first win as Liverpool manager over the weekend and now turns his attention to his first Champions League game with the football club.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid’s unbeaten start came to an end on Saturday when they slumped to a 3-0 away defeat at Athletic Bilbao.

Alexander Isak struck twice in the opening 10 minutes as Liverpool delivered a first win for Iraola with a 2-0 victory at Ipswich on Friday.

Isak’s Premier League record 125-million-pound ($169m) move from Newcastle was matched this week by Manchester City’s signing of Enzo Fernandez, but 12 months on, the Swede is finally beginning to deliver on his price tag.

Ipswich never recovered from a disastrous start as Liverpool cruised to victory at Portman Road with their latest 100-million-pound ($135m) signing Bradley Barcola making his debut as a second-half substitute.

Victory maintains an unbeaten start for Iraola. A pair of 2-2 draws against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest did not lack in entertainment for the Basque coach’s opening two games in charge, but did little to ease doubts over Liverpool’s ability to challenge at the top end of the table this season.