Before Arne Slot was introduced to the Anfield faithful, Jurgen Klopp was on hand to ensure that the Reds would feature in this year’s revamped Champions League after a one-year absence from the competition.
Between now and the end of January, the Reds will participate in the newly introduced league phase, seeing them pitched up against some of Europe’s finest clubs, with the likes of current holders Real Madrid and Xabi Alonso’s current Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen being the standouts.
The Reds kick off their domestic hiatus with a trip to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, the home of Tuesday’s opponents. Interestingly, Arne Slot’s men will come into this game having won four of their last visits to Italy in European competitions, with their one defeat coming against Atalanta in last year’s Europa League quarter-final first leg.
After starting life under new head coach Slot at an all-time high after winning their first three games of the season without conceding a goal, Liverpool was then beaten in their last match after Nottingham Forest humbled them at Anfield courtesy of a well taken Callum Hudson-Odoi strike after coming on early in the second half.
Coincidentally, as Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the season, Milan recorded their first win of the season this past weekend after dismantling Venezia 4-0.
Things haven’t necessarily been plain sailing for Paulo Fonseca’s side so far after only managing to pick up two points from their first three games of the season, but it seems that the international break has done his side the world of good if their previous game was anything to go by.
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Team News
Fonseca will come into the game without Ismael Bennacer (ankle), Alessandro Florenzi (ACL) and backup keeper Marco Sportiello (ligament).
German defender Malick Thiaw may also not be fit enough to feature in their Champions League opener after previously picking up an ankle sprain, so chances are he may not be deemed fit enough to participate yet whilst fullback Davide Calabria may also not feature after missing their previous game following an injury to his leg.
Unless anything changes from now until kick-off, Fonseca will most likely stick with his previous lineup, meaning Tammy Abraham will keep newly signed Alvaro Morata out of the starting XI, and will join former Chelsea men Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the starting XI.
The Reds, as confirmed last week, will be without Harvey Elliott for the Champions League opener after picking up an ankle injury during international duty with England U21s.
New signing Federico Chiesa wasn’t deemed fit enough to feature for the Reds in their 1-0 loss to Forest but a debut in his homeland hasn’t been ruled out as of yet after being named in Liverpool’s 23-man squad and Slot also made it clear that he will not start but there is a chance he could feature at some point throughout the game.
Neither Darwin Nunez nor Cody Gakpo started the last game, nor did they have any sort of impact when coming off the bench on Saturday, but with the game taking place just over 72 hours from then, Slot may opt to freshen up his starting lineup with the attacking duo potentially receiving their first start of the season.
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Potential Lineups
AC Milan (4-2-3-1)
Maignan; Emerson, Tomori, Pavlovic, Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Leao; Abraham
Liverpool (4-2-3-1)
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Endo; Salah, Szoboszlai, Gakpo; Nunez
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Key Players
AC Milan: Christian Pulisic
After a poor start for a team of Rosseneri’s calibre, one diamond in the rough has positively started the season.
That man is former Chelsea man Pulisic.
Having signed from Chelsea in the summer of 2023, the American could be the man that could cause trouble for the Liverpool defence from the off.
Although his time in West London may not have gone the way he would’ve hoped, his time in Italy so far has been impressive.
Since joining the Italian giants, the winger has managed to get 15 goals and 11 assists last season in all competitions and so far, he has two goals and two assists from the first four games.
With Pulisic predominantly featuring on the right side of the attack, he will be up against Andrew Robertson and Virgil Van Dijk, so his side will be hoping to see him at his best if they hope to break the well-structured Liverpool defence.
Liverpool: Mohamed Salah
Although the game against Forest was an anomaly when compared to Salah’s performances beforehand, he will hope to hit the ground running if the Reds hope to get something out of the game.
With the likelihood that Slot will rotate his attackers due to the next few fixtures coming in thick and fast, the chances of Salah being dropped remain extremely unlikely not only because of the lack of available depth within the squad but also because of his importance to the team.
Having started the season with six-goal contributions in the first four games, Slot will hope Salah keeps up his fine form if he hopes to ensure that his maiden season in Merseyside is as successful as his start there.
He will be up against one of the world’s best left-backs Theo Hernandez, so Salah must perform to his usual level in the hope that he can give his side the best chance of coming away with all three points.
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Match details
Where is the game being played?
The fixture is set to take place at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, the home of AC Milan.
What time is kick-off?
The game is set to kick off at 20:00 BST on Tuesday 17th September 2024.
How can I watch it?
The game will be shown on Amazon Prime rather than the usual TNT Sports.
