Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how Liverpool could line up for Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold remains a doubt for Wednesday’s Champions League league phase battle with Real Madrid at Anfield.
The England international missed Sunday’s 3-2 Premier League win over Southampton with the hamstring problem he sustained before the two-week hiatus, but he has the best chance of all of Liverpool’s injury victims of coming back for Wednesday.
Arne Slot is not expecting Alisson Becker (hamstring) or Diogo Jota (abdominal) to make the cut this week, while Federico Chiesa should be eased back into action gradually given his disrupted start.
Alexander-Arnold will no doubt fight tooth and nail to be available for the visit of his reported admirers, where if fit, he will displace Conor Bradley at right-back in what could be one of a few swaps from Slot.
The spine of Caoimhin Kelleher, Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk should remain untouched, but Andy Robertson endured another rough afternoon at St Mary’s and is at risk of losing his place to Kostas Tsimikas.
Alexis Mac Allister is also poised to return to the engine room over Curtis Jones alongside Ryan Gravenberch, who has won possession back 30 times in the 2024-25 UCL, more times than any other midfielder.
Dominik Szoboszlai‘s slick opener on Sunday should be enough to see the Hungarian edge out Jones in the advanced slot, but Cody Gakpo will surely make way for Luis Diaz, scorer of a phenomenal hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen on Champions League matchday four.
Diaz played as a makeshift striker on that day, but the Colombian ought to take up left-wing duties this time around as Darwin Nunez leads the line with additional support from Mohamed Salah, who has dropped a massive contract bombshell ahead of Wednesday’s game.
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Diaz; Nunez
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