Liverpool's four most important players in the Champions League this season

Liverpool’s Champions League campaign kicks off next Tuesday with a trip to the San Siro to square off with AC Milan.

The Champions League can present a different set of challenges to a domestic league and Liverpool will have little room for error should they reach the knockout stage. Ranking the four most important players to their Champions League campaign.

While the revised format of the competition means there will be no return leg against the Italian giants, Anfield will stage blockbuster clashes with last season’s unbeaten Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen and tournament holders Real Madrid who eliminated the Reds in three seasons straight from 2021 to 2023.

Liverpool’s draw also includes intriguing clashes with Girona and Bologna, who both managed surprise top-four finishes in La Liga and Italy respectively, as well as a tricky trip to Red Bull Leipzig.

With Liverpool’s opening fixture less than a week away, I’ve listed the four players who will be most influential to Liverpool’s challenge for a seventh European crown:

4-Virgil Van Dijk

Van Dijk’s arrival at Liverpool in January 2018 was the turning point for the club in the Jurgen Klopp era.  

For all the Reds’ brilliant play going forward, their defensive fragility kept them from being serious challengers for England and Europe’s top prizes. That changed once they signed the Dutchman.

Throughout his time at Anfield, the latter stages of the Champions League have become familiar territory for Van Dijk, who reached the 2018 and 2022 finals and won the whole thing in 2019.

The leadership he provided and organization he instilled in his side’s back line were instrumental in each of those runs and will be again for Liverpool’s challenge this season.

3-Alisson

One moment can determine the fate of a team’s entire Champions League campaign. Alisson highlighted that reality of the competition himself in his debut season at Liverpool in which he made a crucial stoppage time save against Napoli in the final match of the group stage.

Had Napoli forward Arkadiusz Milik leveled the score, Liverpool would have dropped into the Europa League, but Alisson’s remarkable stop instead saw the Reds progress into the knockout stage before they ultimately won the tournament.

While Alisson’s save against Napoli may well be the most important of his Liverpool career, the Brazilian’s heroics in goal have made the difference for his side on countless occasions since.

No matter how solid the Reds are at the back this campaign, they will concede chances and when they do, it will be up to Allison to ensure that those moments do not cost them.

2-Diogo Jota

Just as Liverpool will rely heavily on Alisson one end, they’ll need their forwards to produce at the other.

While Mohamed Salah has been the face of Liverpool’s attack as the club’s top scorer every season since he signed for them in 2017, it’s Diogo Jota who has established himself as the most effective finisher in this squad.

Assuming Liverpool reach the knockout stage, their ruthlessness in the final third will have a far more direct bearing on their hopes of success than it would over the course of a 38-match season.

Salah’s scoring numbers are nothing short of extraordinary, but Liverpool have far more time to recover from a poor result in the Premier League than they do in knockout Champions League football, where one goal can be the difference between progression and elimination.

In Liverpool’s 2019 Champions League triumph, Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were the side’s top scorers, but Divock Origi emerged as the unlikely hero with two goals in the second leg of the semi-final and then another in the final.

Those three goals came from his only three shots all tournament. If there’s anyone in this squad capable of being as clinical in their campaign’s most decisive moments, it’s the Portuguese forward.

1-Trent Alexander-Arnold

The one player whose responsibilities touch every third of the pitch is Trent Alexander-Arnold. Though defending is not Alexander-Arnold’s primary function in the side, Liverpool will inevitably rely their right back to keep their right channel secure when off the ball.

In possession, Alexander-Arnold’s exceptional passing range and vision enable his side to take command of the midfield while his crossing ability greatly enhances his side’s threat going forward.

Two of the most defining moments of the right-back’s career took place in the Champions League. The first was his trike from a free kick in a 2-1 win away at Hoffenheim in his first ever Champions League appearance at just 18 years of age.

The next season, Alexander-Arnold’s produced arguably the greatest assist in the history of the tournament when brilliantly quick corner found Divock Origi, whose finish completed a sensational semi-final second-leg comeback against Barcelona.

The deeper Liverpool go in the tournament, the greater likelihood that we see more of that level of quality from their right-back.