Here’s how Liverpool have fared against all eight of their UEFA Champions League opponents after the draw on Thursday. The Reds will face Real Madrid among others.
Liverpool now know their Champions League opponents in the very first edition of the ‘Swiss Style’ format. The Reds will take on Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, RB Leipzig and others in a new-look competition.
The system is an interesting one, with Liverpool now in one big group with everyone else. There will still be three points for each win, but now the top 8 teams overall go through automatically. The next 16 will enter a playoff round, with every team outside of that eliminated.
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Liverpool have eight games – a unique fixture list – to put themselves in that top eight. So what is their actual record against these teams? Well, two of them are brand new fixtures as Liverpool have never faced Bologna or Girona before.
There’s history in the rest of the fixtures, though.
We’ve had a look.
Liverpool vs Real Madrid
Real Madrid are the only team out of the eight who boast a winning record against Liverpool. They never used to, but the last 10 years have seen them dominate the Reds.
In all, seven wins in 11 games with Liverpool. All seven have come in the last eight fixtures, with one 0-0 draw in April 2021 the sole time we avoided defeat.
Wins: 3 Draws: 1 Defeats: 7
Liverpool vs RB Leipzig
Liverpool have only played RB Leipzig twice, given the East German’s rapid ascent over the last decade or so. The games came in the Champions League – the round of 16 in 2021.
The Reds won both fixtures 2-0, with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané bagging once in each game. More of the same, then, please.
Wins: 2 Draws: 0 Defeats: 0
Liverpool vs Bayer Leverkusen
It’s been a long, long time since Liverpool face Bayer Leverkusen. This time around will see extra spice, too, as Xabi Alonso returns to Anfield, just months after the Reds tried to hire him as manager.
And, funnily enough, Alonso was actually at Liverpool the last time these two met. The Spaniard was injured and didn’t play, but it came during the historic 2005 Champions League campaign.
Liverpool met Leverkusen in the last 16, winning both legs 3-1 on their way to lifting the trophy.
The previous two meetings are also historic for Liverpool. They came during what Gerard Houllier called a period of ’10 games from greatness’, where the team were on the brink of Champions League and Premier League glory in 2002.
Liverpool would defeat Leverkusen 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final but then lost the second leg 4-2. One of the most heartbreaking results in the club’s history.
Wins: 3 Draws: 0 Defeats: 1
And let’s keep the historic theme going! Liverpool’s greatest night came against AC Milan back in 2005, with the Reds fighting back from 3-0 down at half-time to take the Champions League final to penalties. Jerzy Dudek performed some magic and the trophy returned to Anfield after 21 years away.
Of course, Milan got some revenge two years later, winning the 2007 final 2-1 in Athens.
The two teams have met twice since, in the 2021/22 Group Stage. Liverpool won both fixtures and Nat Phillips performed a Cryuff Turn on Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Wins: 3 (one shootout) Draws: 0 Defeats: 1
Liverpool vs Lille
Liverpool have never played Lille in the Champions League but did play them back in 2010. It was a pair of UEFA Europa League ties, with the sides swapping wins.
Lille won 1-0 at home as star-player Eden Hazard bagged the winner. Liverpool got revenge at Anfield, though, as Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres (2) saw through a 3-0 win and got the Reds through to the next round of the competition.
Wins: 1 Draws: 0 Defeats: 1
Liverpool vs PSV Eindhoven
Liverpool have played PSV Eindhoven six times – and all came in a three-year span. They faced the Dutch side in the 2006, 2007 and 2008 editions of the Champions League.
Never before and never since.
The first meeting ended in a 0-0 draw but Liverpool dominated the rest. They won all five following fixtures, scoring 12 and conceding just twice.
Wins: 5 Draws: 1 Defeats: 0
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