Liverpool host Atletico Madrid in Champions League opener at Anfield
Liverpool open their UEFA Champions League league-stage campaign against Atletico Madrid at Anfield, a fixture that has produced some of the competition's more dramatic recent instalments between the two sides.
Form and history
Atletico Madrid arrive with clearly the better recent record of the two, having taken three wins from their last five matches compared with a single victory for Liverpool, whose sequence has included three draws and a defeat alongside their one win.
History between the clubs leans towards the hosts, however. Liverpool won the last meeting between the two at Anfield 3-2 last September, and have also beaten Atletico Madrid on their previous visits in November 2021 and October 2021. Atletico Madrid's two victories in the fixture both came in 2020, when they won 3-2 in Liverpool and 1-0 at home.
What is at stake
A win at Anfield would give Liverpool an early foothold in the new league-stage format on matchday one, while Atletico Madrid will look to carry their better recent form into a venue where they have found victories hard to come by in the past.
With both sides having played only a handful of matches so far this season, the meeting offers an early marker of where each squad stands as the Champions League campaign gets under way.