Liverpool's Defence Faces Atlético Madrid Challenge at Anfield
Liverpool and Atlético Madrid meet again under the lights at Anfield on Wednesday, a rerun of last season’s wild Matchday 1 opener that finished 3-2 to the Reds. This time, though, the story feels different. The home side look loose at the back. Diego Simeone smells weakness.
Liverpool still under construction
Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool are not yet a finished product. You can see it in the numbers and on the pitch.
Four goals conceded in their first two Premier League games, both of them draws. A defence still being shuffled into place. Ronald Araújo pushed out to right-back with Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni sidelined. The structure is new, the partnerships are raw, and the mistakes are there to be punished.
A 2-0 win at Ipswich eased the early tension. Alexander Isak took centre stage at Portman Road, scoring twice inside nine minutes and reminding everyone why Liverpool backed him despite an injury-hit first season that brought just four goals in 22 league appearances. The Swedish striker looks transformed: three goals in three Premier League games, sharper in his movement, cleaner in his finishing.
Iraola, though, is still working around key absences. Hugo Ekitike, Bradley and Leoni remain unavailable, while Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo are not registered for Champions League duty. The squad is deep, but not fully at his disposal.
Even so, the likely XI is strong: Alisson; Kerkez, Araújo, Jacquet, Virgil van Dijk; Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Bradley Barcola; Florian Wirtz, Cody Gakpo, Isak. On paper, that’s plenty of quality. On the grass, the chemistry is still catching up.
Atlético arrive wounded, but dangerous
Atlético come to Merseyside still stinging from a 3-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao. The scoreline was brutal, the performance disjointed. Yet they sit sixth in La Liga with seven points from four games, not a crisis, just an early jolt.
Simeone knows this place. His teams have thrived in hostile English arenas before. Atlético won 3-2 at Anfield in 2019/20 and, more tellingly, recovered from 2-0 down here last season. They don’t scare easily.
This trip brings a twist: Julian Álvarez is set for his first start of the season. The Argentine forward, expected to stay at the club at least until January, gives Atlético another live wire in attack. Cristian Romero is also pushing for his first start since joining, offering added bite at the back.
They are not at full strength either. Alexander Sorloth is out with a thigh problem and Arnau Ortiz is suspended. Still, the projected XI looks typically Simeone: Jan Oblak; Marcos Llorente, Romero, David Hancko, Alejandro Grimaldo; Giuliano Simeone, Pablo Barrios, Morten Hjulmand, Ademola Lookman; Álex Baena, Álvarez.
That spine is built to suffer, spoil and strike.
Can Atlético crack Liverpool’s defence again?
Everything about this matchup points to one obvious fault line: Liverpool’s defence against Atlético’s streetwise attack.
Iraola’s side have already shown they can be opened up. With Araújo out of position at right-back and a relatively new partnership in the middle, the line is still learning when to squeeze, when to drop and how to cope under sustained pressure.
Atlético are built to exploit exactly that uncertainty. They have done it here before, twice. The market gives Simeone’s team a 46.5% implied chance of avoiding defeat. Given Liverpool’s teething problems and Atlético’s track record on this ground, that looks generous.
They have never won a league-phase game against English opposition, which hangs over them as an odd quirk of their European history. But they don’t need to win to unsettle Anfield again. A draw would be enough to tilt the narrative and underline Liverpool’s vulnerability.
Isak’s redemption arc
Isak’s resurgence is one of the early stories of Liverpool’s season.
Last year, he never quite found rhythm. Injuries clipped his momentum, his confidence drifted, and four league goals felt a poor return for a player of his talent. This season, the tone has changed. He looks lighter on his feet, more ruthless in the box.
Three goals in three league games tell part of the story. The connection with Gakpo tells the rest. The Dutchman assisted all three of Isak’s goals so far, including the devastating double at Ipswich. When those two link up, Liverpool finally look like the attacking force their squad suggests they should be.
Atlético’s defence, though, is not Ipswich’s. Even after conceding three at Bilbao, Simeone’s back line remains rugged, cynical and experienced. Isak’s European record — one goal in 13 Champions League appearances — is a glaring warning sign against assuming his domestic form will simply carry over.
Still, the implied 47.6% chance of him scoring feels low when you watch how he is moving right now. For Liverpool, his form is not a luxury. It is a necessity.
A slow burn, not a shootout?
Here’s the oddity: for all the attacking names on Liverpool’s teamsheet, chance creation has been a real issue.
They sit 19th in the Premier League for big chances created — just four in three games. Brighton, by contrast, have carved out 15 in the same span. That gulf is not just a quirk of early-season form; it reflects a team still working out how to unlock defences consistently.
Florian Wirtz wants to drift into those half-spaces between the lines, but on Wednesday he will run into a wall of red and white. Pablo Barrios and Morten Hjulmand will patrol those zones with the kind of discipline Simeone demands. Behind them, Oblak remains one of the most reliable goalkeepers in Europe, a calming presence in chaos.
Simeone will not mind if this turns into a slow, narrow contest. In fact, he will welcome it. Fewer transitions, more duels, more frustration for the home crowd. Atlético have scored seven in their last four league games, so they still carry a real punch, especially with Álvarez back in the front line, but they are unlikely to open up willingly at Anfield.
With the under 2.5 goals line priced at an implied 42.2%, the expectation of a tight, tense game feels well founded. This has all the makings of a night decided by one mistake, one set piece, one flash of quality.
Predicted score and key threats
The balance of form, injuries and styles points towards a cagey draw. A 1-1 scoreline fits the evidence: Liverpool’s defence is too shaky to bank on a clean sheet, Atlético are too disciplined to be blown away, and both sides have just enough firepower to land a punch.
Isak is the obvious Liverpool threat. Álvarez carries the spotlight for Atlético on his first start of the season. If either man finds a moment, it could tilt the group before it has even settled.
Liverpool won the last chapter of this fixture. Atlético have twice walked out of Anfield with Liverpool’s certainty in pieces. With Iraola still building and Simeone regrouping, which version of these teams will show up when the noise hits full volume?
