Liverpool face off against Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid for the second year running, in a match that will mark Andoni Iraola’s first Champions League game as Liverpool manager.
The Basque boss will be hoping to replicate the same fortune Liverpool experienced in this fixture last campaign: a 3-2 victory, aided by a Virgil van Dijk 92nd-minute winner that capped off his side’s comeback and secured their first three points of the campaign.
Diego Simeone has a long history against English sides in European competitions, but his record in the league phase compared to knockout matches could not be more different. The Argentine boss is a master of navigating two-legged knockout ties, coming out on top in seven of the ten major ties he has contested against English opposition.
Three of his most notable victories came against Chelsea in the 2014 Champions League semi-final, Arsenal in the Europa League semi-final, and finally Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool in 2020 in the Champions League round of 16.
Across his ten matches against seven different English opponents — Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal — he has lost at home once.
His solitary knockout-tie loss against an English side at the Metropolitano came at the hands of Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League round of 16, on their route to winning the competition.
Simeone’s record against English sides in the Champions League group and league phases is remarkably poor. In 10 matches, he has overseen four draws and six defeats, with no victories.
Atlético have won just two of their last 14 matches against English opposition, a record they will be hoping to improve on Wednesday.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have won 14 of their last 15 Champions League group-stage or league-phase fixtures at Anfield. With both sides carrying contrasting records into the contest, the stage is set for an intriguing clash in Merseyside.
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