2021-2022 UEFA CL: Liverpool vs. AC Milan

Liverpool and AC Milan have met twice, both times in Champions League finals...

-25 May 2005 (Istanbul, Turkey): A.C. Milan 3, Liverpool 3 (Liverpool wins 3-2 on penalties)
-23 May 2027 (Athens, Greece): A.C. Milan 2, Liverpool 1

(The Guardian) Preamble
--Liverpool v Milan, you say? Don’t mind if I do. Two clubs oozing European pedigree but which the gods of randomness have previously decreed never should meet outside Champions League finals. Everyone will remember the phenomenal 2005 final, fewer the more humdrum 2007 version, but those are the only ever competitive meetings between these sides. Liverpool have played Inter four times, Juventus and Napoli six times each, and Roma on seven occasions, but somehow their orbit and Milan’s never quite intersects. Liverpool have played Udinese, Genoa and Fiorentina as often as they have played the Rossoneri.

But now they are set to double their all-time head-to-head match count in the space of a few weeks, and we are alive to witness it. Milan have started their domestic season handily – three wins in their first three games with a 7-1 aggregate – and Liverpool likewise – three wins in their first four games with an 8-1 aggregate. With Atlético Madrid and Porto also in the group there’s little room for error here: three home wins and one positive away result is the most obvious formula for progression.

“This is the strongest group we have had since I am at Liverpool, no doubt about that,” says Jürgen Klopp. “In 2013 at Dortmund we had a real Champions League group as well. We had Manchester City, Real Madrid and Ajax, which was a proper group where people said: ‘Oh my God, how will we get through?’ This is a proper group as well. This group will be exciting from the first second to the last second.”

The Liverpool dressing room before the Champions League match against Milan at Anfield. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC/Getty Images

(The Guardian) “Nothing to learn here? Wait a minute, yes there is,” insists Sammy Lopez. “On the left, there’s one with no nameplate! Rude, or forgetful?”

That’s Nathaniel Phillips, who has played 21 times for Liverpool now, probably enough for a nameplate you’d have thought.

(The Guardian) 2 mins: A strong start for the home side, and Keita has the night’s first shot, a 20-yard left-footer. It’s not a very good one, and Kjaer blocks.

(The Guardian) 5 mins: Milan are being turned to mush down the left flank, and this time the ball is touched to Jota, who shifts it onto his left foot and has a shot that deflects wide.

(The Guardian) 8 mins: Origi wins the ball on the right, and for a moment Jota is completely clear in the middle. Origi tries to find him, but his centre is too feeble and Kjaer intercepts.

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8 mins: Save! From the ensuing corner, Matip’s header is caught by Maignan.