Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
The Reds look to shrug off Saturday’s stumble against Nottingham Forest as they kick off their Champions League campaign in Italy against AC Milan. After a perfect start to the season and life under new head coach Arne Slot, with three shutout wins in their first three Premier League games before the September international break, Liverpool returned to action over the weekend with a stumble against bottom-half Nottingham Forest.
A 1-0 defeat at Anfield to a side many expect to be in a relegation dogfight this season wasn’t what anybody, from fans to pundits to the players, was expecting. Now, goalkeeper Alisson Becker says the goal is to bounce back in the Champions League against AC Milan and prove it was only a blip.
“It’s a big chance for us to prove again and get back to the good start we had,” Liverpool’s star shot stopper noted. “Unfortunately, the last match we were far, far away from what we could do on the pitch and we know that. But football is quick, so now we have to be really focused for tomorrow night.
“It will be a tough opponent that we are going to play against and we have to be ready. It will be a tough game. They are a great team, a huge historic club. We know that these two teams have competed in great finals, so for us it is a pleasure to play in a game like this and fight for our targets.”
This will mark just the fourth time these two historic sides—Milan have won the Champions League seven times to Liverpool’s six—have met in competitive play with the first being 2005’s famous final in Istanbul won by Liverpool on penalties in a game many saw Milan as being the better side in.
Milan then returned the favour in 2007, winning the final over Liverpool in a game most Reds believed they should have won. A pair of group stage matches followed in 2021, with Liverpool winning both home and away in a season that saw them make it to the final before losing to Real Madrid.