Liverpool and Real Madrid in high voltage clash at Anfield

Great game: Liverpool and Real Madrid reissue at Anfield and for the round of 16 the last Champions League final

Early final at Anfield. The powerful ones Liverpool y Real Madrid they will face each other in a compromise high voltage on English soil, corresponding to the first leg of the round of 16 of the 2022-23 Champions League.

This Tuesday (5:00 p.m. in Chile) will be the seventh duel between both teams in the last 10 years, no white defeat in none of the six above. The last victory of the ‘reds’ against Real Madrid was in 2009 (4-0).

Besides, Ancelotti has only lost two of the 11 head-to-headsbut, nevertheless, the meringues only add one victory in their last seven visits to English clubs in Europe.

Liverpool awaits anxiously this tie, as it may be their last bullet and the antidote to a more than disappointing season. The ‘reds’ are not at the level of last year when they only lost four games and fought until the end for the Premier and the Champions League.

However, this campaign is not turning out as expected. In the domestic contest is 19 points already from Arsenal and seven from the Champions League and has also already fallen in the FA Cup, while in the maximum continental competition they were surpassed by the Italian Napoli in their group. But, despite all these doubts, Jürgen Klopp’s men come to the duel against Real Madrid after showing signs of recovery with two consecutive wins against Everton and Newcastle.

Liverpool clings to the atmosphere at Anfield, where they have only lost one of the last 23 games played at home, to try to put the first stone of his revenge against a rival, who in addition to taking away European glory last year and in 2018, also eliminated him in the quarterfinals of the 2020-2021 season.

The ‘red’ team will receive the current champion with also important casualties such as Ibrahima Konaté, Luis Díaz and Thiago Alcántara, while the Uruguayan striker Darwin Núñez, ‘touched’ on the shoulder, “could” have minutes, according to Klopp, that at least he has recovered Virgil van Dijk to try to give solidity to an unreliable defense until not too long ago.

Matip would be the companion of the Dutchman in the center of the rear, with Alexander-Arnold, who will live another beautiful day against Vinicius, and Robertson on the wings, while the promising Spaniard Bajcetic would accompany Henderson and Fabinho in the middle. Above, Salah, eager to settle scores, would command the attack together with the newcomer Gakpo and with Diogo Jota as a solution to the absence of Núñez.

Madrid hopes to assert its constant favoritism

with the memory of the victory in the final of the last edition of the highest European club competition, the Real Madrid team travels to Anfield with the aim of starting the knockout phase on the right foot and returning to Madrid with a beneficial result. The whites will hear the Champions League anthem again almost four months after the win against Celtic (5-1) and with his first major European exam of the Bell.

The defending champion faces it with a little more confidence and fewer doubts after getting some air in the last 15 days. It seems that the defeat, as unexpected as it was painful, against Mallorca was the best touch of attention. And it is that since that ‘stumbling block’ at the beginning of the month, he has linked four victories with 15 goals in favour, in addition to adding two clean sheets and lifting the Club World Cup, numbers that encourage him against Jürgen Klopp’s men.

Real Madrid seems to be beginning to resemble the one that started the season. More vertical, with a very chameleonic style and with the ability to close matches. With no margin for error in the Spanish league, Carlo Ancelotti’s team has a lot at stake in the coming weeks and Anfield kicks off a hectic schedule with a derby on Saturday and a Clásico cupbearer in the semifinals next week.

For this first duel, the Italian coach will have two major casualties since, as was the case in Pamplona, he will not even have Toni Krooswho continues with the gastroenteritis that has left him without playing since the Club World Cup, nor with Tchouameniaffected by flu.

Instead, he has the good news of return of Karim Benzema to form a duo with Vinicius with which he hopes to hurt a hesitant Liverpool behind. The French and the Brazilian are fixed in the eleven and now the Italian must decide how to complete the attack if with a more in tune Fede Valverde again to put Ceballos in the midfield along with Camavinga and Modric and better counteract the pressure that he is under. They will submit the locals, or delay the Uruguayan where the Andalusian and put Rodrygo Goes up.

In defence, only with the loss of Ferland Mendy, most likely protecting a Courtois who was a nightmare for the ‘reds’ in Saint-Dennis, are Dani Carvajal and David Alaba on the rails, and Éder Militao and Antonio Rüdiger as central.

possible alignments

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Matip, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Bajcetic; Wrong, Gakpo y Núñez.

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rüdiger, Alaba; Modric, Camavinga, Ceballos; Valverde, Benzema and Vinicius.