Liverpool will take on Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16

Liverpool vs Real Madrid will undoubtedly be one of the best fixtures of the Champions League round of 16 that will take place at Anfield stadium on Wednesday, 22nd February 2023 at 01:30 AM IST. Both teams have starred in interesting clashes against each other in recent years, including the finals in the 2018 and 2022 editions But both of them were won by the Spanish team.

This season has been a very difficult one for English club Liverpool, in which the constant injuries to important players have taken their toll, especially at the local level, where they have just recorded a second consecutive victory by beating Newcastle 0-2, a result that barely It helped him to reach an eighth place in the Premier League standings.

However, the Reds will hope to take advantage of this recent improvement to face this Champions League match, a contest in which they have smiled so far this season since, although they finished second in Group A, it was only because they had a slightly lower goal differential than Italian club Napoli, as they both had 15 points (5 wins, 1 draw).

With Arthur, Thiago and Luis Díaz among their main casualties, the team led by Jürgen Klopp will have to face a rival that has made them suffer a lot in recent years, being unable to win in their last six matches against each other, registering 5 defeats and 1 draw in that period.

For its part, the top winner of the Champions League, Real Madrid, has also had its ups and downs this season. However, knowing the luck with which they usually run in this tournament, it is always a rival to fear. The Spanish team comes from defeating Osasuna 0-2 in Spanish League over the weekend, but still finds a distance of 8 points between them and their eternal rival and leader of the table, Barcelona.

Los Merengues also had some slip-ups in the group stage, but that didn't stop them from claiming the top of Group F, even after losing 3-2 to RB Leipzig on the final day. However, they will know that they cannot be trusted here since they did not have the best away performances in the last phase, registering (1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss). Like its rival, the cast from the Spanish capital will arrive here with significant casualties, such as Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, Aurélien Tchouameni and Ferland Mendy, all players who are generally starters.

Despite their absences, Real Madrid still has a very quality squad, especially in defence, which in turn is backed by one of the best goalkeepers in the world, so scoring will be a difficult task for Liverpool who has scored more than one goal in only two of their last seven official matches.

However, the local at least has the good news of having recovered Virgil Van Dijk in his previous presentation, and that his rival will not have his main offensive reference, the Frenchman Karim Benzema. Considering the casualties of both teams and what they have shown throughout the campaign, we expect this to be a close game, hard-fought, but with few goals on the scoreboard.

Probable Playing XI:

Real Madrid: Thibaut Courtois; Nacho, Eder Militão, Antonio Rüdiger, David Alaba; Luka Modric, Eduardo Camavinga, Dani Ceballos; Federico Valverde, Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr.

Liverpool: Alisson; Trent-Alexander Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Stefan Bajcetic; Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez.