(Football news) Real Madrid topped their UCL group against Celtic, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk. Liverpool on the other hand finished 2nd behind Napoli in their group. The two teams faced off in the Champions League final last season which Real Madrid won. This time around it is a two legged affair with the 1st leg at Anfield.
Real Madrid have a really good record against Liverpool in the past few years having won 2 finals and a quarter final. The last time Real Madrid played in front of a packed Anfield was in the 2014/15 group stage. Carlo Ancelotti was the Real Madrid manager while Brendon Rodgers was Liverpool’s manager. Los Blancos won 3-0 thanks to 2 goals from Karim Benzema and 1 from Cristiano Ronaldo who received a standing ovation.
Real Madrid came into the match on the back of wins against Elche and Osasuna. Real Madrid will be without Ferland Mendy and Mariano who are injured. Toni Kroos and Aurélien Tchouaméni are both down with flu and haven’t traveled with the team. Karim Benzema missed the match on the weekend but he is back and Ancelotti has already confirmed that he will start. Castilla striker Alvaro Rodrigues who had an impressive cameo against Osasuna is also in the squad. Ancelotti has also confirmed that Dani Carvajal will start at right back which means that Nacho and Lucas Vazquez will be on the bench. The battle between Vinicius Jr and Trent Alexander-Arnold is going to be a very spicy one.
Liverpool are coming into the game having won their last 2 games 2-0. They have quite a few injury problems which has been the case all season. Luis Diaz, Ibrahima Konate, Thiago Alcantara and Calvin Ramsay are all ruled out but Arthur could return to the bench. Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Virgil Van Dijk have recovered in time for the game. Darwin Nunez injured himself against Newcastle on the weekend and even though he has been training there are still doubts around his availability. Mohamad Salah has an underwhelming record against Real Madrid and he will be looking to change his fortunes.
