Who: Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid
What: Champions League, league phase
Where: Anfield, Liverpool, United Kingdom
When: Wednesday, September 9, at 8pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up from 16:00 GMT ahead of our live text commentary streamLiverpool and Atletico Madrid kick off their 2026-27 Champions League campaigns with a mouthwatering league-phase game at Anfield.Andoni Iraola got his first win as Liverpool manager over the weekend and now turns his attention to his first Champions League game with the football club.Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid’s unbeaten start came to an end on Saturday when they slumped to a 3-0 away defeat at Athletic Bilbao.Isak fires Liverpool to first win under IraolaAlexander Isak struck twice in the opening 10 minutes as Liverpool delivered a first win for Iraola with a 2-0 victory at Ipswich on Friday.Isak’s Premier League record 125-million-pound ($169m) move from Newcastle was matched this week by Manchester City’s signing of Enzo Fernandez, but 12 months on, the Swede is finally beginning to deliver on his price tag.Ipswich never recovered from a disastrous start as Liverpool cruised to victory at Portman Road with their latest 100-million-pound ($135m) signing Bradley Barcola making his debut as a second-half substitute.Victory maintains an unbeaten start for Iraola. A pair of 2-2 draws against Newcastle and Nottingham Forest did not lack in entertainment for the Basque coach’s opening two games in charge, but did little to ease doubts over Liverpool’s ability to challenge at the top end of the table this season.“We needed it. Definitely needed this one. Also the way it has been, I think, with a clean sheet,” said Iraola.Alexander Isak celebrates scoring Liverpool’s second goal against Ipswich [Paul Childs/Action Images via Reuters]Flat Atletico trounced by BilbaoAthletic Bilbao thumped Atletico Madrid 3-0 in La Liga on a miserable Saturday afternoon for Diego Simeone’s side.Simeone’s Atletico fell to their first defeat of the season, putting up little fight in the second half after Athletic made the breakthrough with two quick strikes from Nico Williams and Robert Navarro, before Oihan Sancet added a third at Bilbao’s San Mames Stadium.“[We had] two minutes of inattention and poor decision-making in situations we should have handled better,” said Simeone. “Bilbao capitalised on that lapse.”Striker Julian Alvarez, who tried to leave the club to join Barcelona this summer, returned as a substitute after illness in an ineffective second-half appearance.“We were good in the first half, but the game got away from us in those [couple of] minutes,” said Simeone.“We lacked in the second half everything that we had in the first.”Manager Diego Simeone throws the ball to Atletico Madrid’s South Korean midfielder Kang-in Lee during the defeat to Bilbao [Ander Gillenea/AFP]PredictionThe Opta supercomputer pegs Liverpool as the favourites, with a win probability of 53 percent. Atletico were given a 23.5 percent chance of winning.Head-to-headThe two clubs have faced each other on nine occasions; Liverpool won four of the games, Atletico won three, and two ended as draws.Last five encounters:
