(Football news) The Reds are a perfect three-for-three in the embryonic stages of the 2024-25 European competition, but their sixth-placed German counterparts can leapfrog them in the 36-team table with victory on Merseyside.
Mere minutes after Jurgen Klopp dropped his resignation bombshell in January, Liverpool fans were rolling out the red carpet for former midfield maestro Alonso to take the Anfield reins, only for the Leverkusen boss to snub not one, not two, but three of his former teams to stay with the Bundesliga Invincibles.
As Liverpool, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid came to terms with Alonso’s decision, the Anfield hierarchy put a big-money contract down on the table for Arne Slot, whose start to life on Merseyside has gone better than even he could have surely anticipated.
AC Milan, Bologna, and RB Leipzig have all succumbed to Liverpool’s superiority in the early phase of the 2024-25 Champions League; Darwin Nunez’s solitary strike was enough for a 1-0 win over the latter in October, leaving Liverpool only trailing Aston Villa in the UCL rankings.
However, Liverpool arguably produced their worst 45 minutes of football under Slot in Saturday’s Premier League clash with Brighton & Hove Albion, but a second-half revival saw Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah cancel out Ferdi Kadioglu’s strike in an incredibly hard-fought 2-1 win.
With Manchester City and Arsenal both slipping up away from home in gameweek 10, Liverpool have now assumed control of the Premier League title race, sitting two points clear of the reigning champions at the top of the standings after their 10th win from their last 11 games under Slot.
Records are tumbling at the feet of the ever-composed Dutchman, who has now masterminded five straight home victories—with at least two goals on each occasion—and they can now win each of their opening four games of a Champions League season for just the second time after doing so in 2021-22.
Replicating the scarcely believable feats of 2023-24 was always going to be an extremely tall order for Alonso’s Leverkusen, who came within 90 minutes of a tremendous treble last season before succumbing to an Ademola Lookman masterclass in the Europa League final.
The Bundesliga Invincibles are very much on the right track in the top tier of European football this season, though, taking seven points from their first nine games courtesy of wins over Feyenoord and AC Milan and an admittedly disappointing draw with Ligue 1 outfit Brest on matchday three.
Die Werkself have made a habit of playing out one-pointers this season, making it three draws from their last four games on Friday as they played out a goalless Bundesliga affair with Stuttgart, leaving them seven points behind revitalised leaders Bayern Munich.
That drab draw did extend Leverkusen’s unbeaten run in all competitions to a respectable 11 games, though, and Alonso’s men are yet to suffer their first road defeat of the season, winning each of their first four away from home in 2024-25 and sharing the points in each of their last three.
Tuesday’s tantalising tie will see Liverpool and Leverkusen reunite for the first time since the 2004-05 edition, when the Reds eased to a pair of 3-1 victories in the last 16 en route to a mesmerising title lift, although Alonso did not feature in either leg against his future employers due to a broken ankle.
Also read: Real Madrid will play AC Milan in the UCL as they look to get back on track
