Arne Slot meets Diego Simeone again on the Champions League stage with Atletico going to Anfield in dire form in La Liga while the Premier League champions keep winning late on
Merseyside and Madrid renew their rivalry in one of the standout fixtures of Champions League matchweek one, as Liverpool welcome Atletico Madrid to Anfield. The Reds have enjoyed a flawless start to their Premier League campaign, while Diego Simeone’s men have only just registered their first win in La Liga.
Arne Slot, already making headlines since succeeding Jurgen Klopp, set a new English football record in Liverpool’s fourth league game of the season—though it came with mixed emotions. It took until the 95th minute for Liverpool to break down Burnley’s resistance on Sunday, with Mohamed Salah converting a late penalty to seal a 1-0 win. Remarkably, the reigning champions became the first team in Premier League history to notch four consecutive victories courtesy of winning goals scored in the final 10 minutes of each match.
While it remains to be seen how long Liverpool can keep relying on late drama, the key statistic is their perfect 12-point start, which sees them sitting atop the Premier League table. Now turning their attention to European competition, the Reds will be eager to make amends for last season’s painful last-16 exit at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain. However, with PSG going on to lift the trophy, there was little shame in falling to the eventual champions.
Liverpool have been formidable at home in European competition, winning each of their last 14 matches at Anfield across both the Champions League and Europa League, and impressively scoring at least twice in the most recent 13 of those encounters.
Atletico Madrid, meanwhile, are renowned for their defensive solidity under long-serving boss Diego Simeone, having kept clean sheets in 42% of their Champions League games during his tenure—the highest rate for any Spanish club with 50+ matches under a single manager. However, their usually reliable defense faltered at the start of the 2025-26 campaign, as they failed to win any of their first three La Liga fixtures, suffering a 2-1 defeat to Espanyol followed by 1-1 draws with Elche and Alaves.
The international break appeared to come at just the right time for Atletico, who finally secured their first league win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Villarreal, thanks to goals from Pablo Barrios and Nico Gonzalez.
Now embarking on their 13th consecutive Champions League campaign, Atletico can draw confidence from having scored in 15 of their last 16 league phase matches, and from losing just two of their last 15 matchweek one fixtures in the competition. Historically, Los Rojiblancos lost only one of their first six meetings with Liverpool, but the Reds reversed that trend with two group-stage victories in the 2021-22 Champions League—kickstarting a run of four straight wins against Spanish opposition in Europe’s premier competition.
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