Xabi Alonso makes his long-awaited return to Anfield on Tuesday night as his Bayer Leverkusen team takes on Liverpool in the Champions League league phase.
Alonso’s much-anticipated Merseyside return comes on Matchday 4 of the new format, with Leverkusen facing a Liverpool side that has won all three of their opening encounters, placing them joint-top of the table alongside Aston Villa.
The Bundesliga champions impressively secured victories over Feyenoord and AC Milan in their first two games but drew 1-1 away at surprise-package Brest on Matchday 3.
Their record keeps them in the top eight as the halfway point of the group stage approaches.
Leverkusen will enjoy an extra day’s recovery time as they prepare for the daunting task of visiting Anfield under the lights.
Alonso’s team was held to a 1-1 draw by Stuttgart on home soil on Friday, while Bayern Munich’s subsequent victory over Union Berlin has left Leverkusen seven points adrift of Die Roten in the Bundesliga table.
Meanwhile, Liverpool continue to impress under the management of Arne Slot.
A come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Brighton on Saturday propelled them to the top of the Premier League table, following Manchester City’s defeat at Bournemouth.
Slot’s Reds have lost just once in all competitions this season.
Speaking ahead of the game, Slot said: “If you play against strong teams, which Leverkusen is one of them, Liverpool as well also though, you need to be good in both sides.
“Unfortunately, we were poor in the first half [against Brighton] on both hands.
“We were poor with the ball – not poor, we were not as good with the ball, and we were quite poor without the ball against Brighton, which is a team that can play out from the back really good as well.
“That shows us that we need a performance like the second half because Leverkusen, in my opinion, before we play them is at least equal to Brighton when they have the ball.
“So, we need a much better performance than the first half and we need an equal performance like the second half.”
Liverpool: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Jones, Diaz; Gakpo
Subs: Jaros, Davies, Gomez, Endo, Szoboszlai, Nunez, Robertson, Quansah, Morton, Bradley.
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