After a long time Champions League, the beloved competition of Madridistas, is finally back in action. After topping the Group F, the European champions in charge are looking to continue the defense of their title at the start of the knockout rounds. Liverpool are their opponents in the last 16. A trip to Anfield is on the agenda on Tuesday, 21 February, for the first leg (9pm, CET). The Santiago Bernabéu stadium will host the second leg on Wednesday, 15 March, at 9pm as well.
Group Stage and Previous meetings
Real Madrid finished top of the Group F with 13 points, losing only to RB Leipzig 3-2 in the latter’s home. Meanwhile Liverpool faced difficulty with a team that has been really in top form throughout the whole year. They lost one game with a devastating result of 4-1 but won the return at home 2-0. However, due to the goal difference and the h2h they had to finish 2nd in the group with 15 points. Real Madrid and Liverpool have played each other nine times in the European Cup, with the Whites coming out on top: five wins, one draw and three defeats. The last time the teams met was a memorable one for Ancelotti's side who won la Decimocuarta in Paris against the English team.
Current form
Back-to-back Premier League wins over Everton and Newcastle United, with the latter coming courtesy of Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo's efforts. Liverpool needed just two minutes to take the lead through Darwin Nuñez. Seven minutes later, Gakpo scored to make it 2-0. This victory and the team’s form improving game after game means that a top-four finish is not beyond the realm of possibility for Liverpool, who appear to have turned a corner after a disastrous start to proceedings in 2023. The 4th place is 7 points away and considering that Liverpool has 2 games in hand, everything may turn out easier, despite having many competitors for that spot.
Carlo Ancelotti's outfit secured their fourth successive win in all tournaments on Saturday, defeating Osasuna 2-0 in La Liga thanks to second-half strikes from Federico Valverde and Marco Asensio, having managed a very tough game with the opponent that was quite dangerous and never willing to give up. But, their hopes of successive La Liga and Champions League doubles are already hanging by a thread as the team has had some ups and downs and injuries/absences have been quite frequent. The gap to Barcelona at the top of La Liga stands at 8 points and this season looks difficult to break the Catalans’ run. However the Whites are well known for never giving up and there is still half of the season to go.
Teams and Injuries
Liverpool's success over Newcastle at the weekend came at quite the cost, as Darwin Nunez was forced off just before the hour mark with a painful shoulder problem, and he will undergo further assessment in the coming hours to determine his availability for Tuesday. The Uruguayan was seen in training on Monday, but should he miss out, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino will engage in a fierce battle to complete the attack, and the former may win that head-to-head if Klopp opts to deploy Gakpo centrally again.
Luis Diaz, Ibrahima Konate, Thiago Alcantara and Calvin Ramsay make up the rest of Liverpool's confirmed absentees, while Arthur is still a doubt as he recovers from thigh surgery, so effervescent teenager Stefan Bajcetic can look forward to a deserved start against the European champions.
Similarly, Real may be sweating over the fitness of their star striker Karim Benzema after he was left out of the clash with Osasuna due to muscular fatigue, but Ancelotti is expecting the Ballon d'Or winner to have fully recovered for Tuesday after enjoying a much-needed rest. In more pressing matters, key midfield duo Aurelien Tchouameni and Toni Kroos have both been suffering from illness, and both players have been left out of the squad here, so Eduardo Camavinga and Dani Ceballos ought to join Luka Modric in the triumvirate.
Left-back Ferland Mendy is facing several more weeks out with a thigh injury, and backup striker Mariano Diaz has also picked up an unspecified problem, which has rendered him unavailable, but Courtois, who made nine saves in last year's final, has recovered from a hamstring issue and will start on his return to English turf.
Below is a prediction of the starting lineups for the teams:
Liverpool possible starting lineup: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Bajcetic, Fabinho, Henderson; Salah, Gakpo, Jota
Real Madrid possible starting lineup: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Alaba; Ceballos, Camavinga, Modric; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Jr
The Referee
István Kovács will referee the match between Liverpool and Real Madrid, in this first leg of the Champions League last 16. The 38-year-old has been a full international for FIFA since 2010 and a UEFA elite referee since 2019. The Romanian will be taking charge of a madridista match in this competition for the second time after the Manchester City-Real Madrid in the first leg of last season's semi-final (4-3). Kovács was praised by the UEFA Committee and the media for his great performance. As a reward, the UEFA Referees Committee chose him to officiate the 2022 UEFA Europa Conference League final. His performances also earned him places in the World Cup in Qatar and then in Club World Cup in Morocco.
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