Key events
1 min: Liverpool are playing towards the Kop in this first half. They prefer it the other way round; Xabi Alonso has clearly given his captain Federico Valverde the heads-up on that.
Liverpool get the ball rolling. The Anfield faithful chant the name of Andy Robertson in the pointed style. His old full-back friend looking on from the benches.
Anfield performs You’ll Never Walk Alone as one, then the teams emerge from the tunnel. Liverpool in red, Real Madrid in meringue white, like you needed to be told any of that. It’s raining extremely heavily. I’d use the adjective Mancunian, but, well, y’know. A blast of Zadok the Priest (Uefa Mix) is met with a wall of abuse – nine out of ten on the aforementioned Opprobrium-o-meter™, which I’ve patched up with gaffer tape and glue – and then everyone shakes hands. We’ll be off in a minute!
Real Madrid emerge from the tunnel to warm up. Just the starting XI at first. They’re met with a no-nonsense blast of booing that registers 8.5 out of 10 on Guardian Sport’s fully patented Alexander-Arnold Opprobrium-o-meter™. Then a couple of minutes later, out come the subs. All of them bar Trent, who exchanges some friendly words and hugs with old friends on the Liverpool staff in the tunnel. All lovely. Then finally he makes it to the pitch, at which point it’s officially panto season. The stands are only half full at the moment, but still the booing is loud enough for the needle to shear clean off of our Alexander-Arnold Opprobrium-o-meter™. They’ve broken the Opprobrium-o-meter™! But then the boos subside as quickly as they went up. Trent is laughing quite a lot, and a fair few of the folk pictured hollering at him from the stands are enjoying themselves with a smile as well. Yeah, it’s panto season all right.
Arne Slot speaks to Amazon Prime. “A great fixture … we’re all looking forward to a game like this … these clubs have met each other multiple times … so it’s a special evening, special occasion, special game … as many times before, I play Florian Wirtz … [laughing] if I play him, you ask about him, and if I don’t play him, you ask about him! … he is the left winger tonight … our high press was most of the time really good [against Villa] … that was positive … open play we didn’t create as much [as at Brentford, Palace or United] but the pressing was better.”
As for the reception a certain full-back might get upon returning to his alma mater? “I have no clue … he is an incredible player and a great human being.”
The big news for Liverpool is the return of Florian Wirtz to the starting line-up. He takes the place of Cody Gakpo, on the left side of the front three. That’s the only change from the team that started the 2-0 win over Aston Villa last weekend.
The big news for Liverpool fans is that Trent Alexander-Arnold is only on the bench for Real Madrid. Andrew Robertson would have enjoyed facing his old team-mate out on the flank, but that particular showdown will have to wait. On the other side of the pitch, Kylian Mbappé will lock horns again with Conor Bradley, who hit him with that tackle last year.
The teams
Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Bradley, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Ekitike, Wirtz.
Subs: Woodman, Gomez, Endo, Kerkez, Chiesa, Jones, Gakpo, Ngumoha, Misciur.
Real Madrid: Courtois, Valverde, Eder Militao, Huijsen, Carreras, Tchouameni, Bellingham, Camavinga, Guler, Vinicius Junior, Mbappe.
Subs: Lunin, Gonzalez, Endrick, Rodrygo, Alexander-Arnold, Gonzalo Garcia, Asencio, Ceballos, Francisco Garcia, Diaz, Mendy.
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (Romania).
Hugo Ekitiké talks to Amazon Prime. “I feel good … excited … we have had a bit of a struggle … sometimes up, sometimes down … the win [against Villa] means we can go into tonight’s game with more confidence and more energy … we have to work as a team to stop [Kylian Mbappé] … he’s a top player so it’ll be a beautiful game to watch tonight.”
There’s already been some Trent-centric news today. Pelters during the 90 minutes is fair game, all part of football’s pantomime swirl. This seems a bit low-rent, though. Probably best to stress that one doofus with a pot of paint doesn’t define an entire fanbase. The mural’s been cleaned up now, so all’s good in the end.
Preamble
Alan Kennedy. Yossi Benayoun. Steven Gerrard. Andrea Dossena. Karim Benzema (x5). Gareth Bale. Vinicius Junior (x3). Alexis Mac Allister. Some big names there, plus one smile-on-face, cherry-on-cake curveball, who have all made their mark on crème-de-la-crème showdowns between two of European football’s most glamorous clubs.
Another star could become part of that gilded story this evening: Trent Alexander-Arnold, the once-beloved scouser in Liverpool’s team. He returns to Anfield tonight with all eyes on, whether he starts or sits … and yet he’s already made the most important impression he could, in laying this heartfelt tribute outside his old stomping ground to his fallen mate.
There’s still a big game to be played, and Real Madrid are up by two finals to one, with seven wins to Liverpool’s four. They’re in better recent form as well, having won all but one of their 14 fixtures in all competitions so far this season. But after a run of six defeats in seven, Liverpool got back on the horse last Saturday with perhaps their best performance of the campaign in beating Aston Villa, so good luck calling this one. It’ll almost certainly be emotional. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT, and Diogo Jota will always be Liverpool’s number 20.
