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Marcos Llorente has made a career out of ruining Liverpool’s evenings at Anfield. On September 9, 2026, he added another chapter to what is becoming one of the Champions League’s most lopsided personal rivalries, putting Atletico Madrid ahead 1-0 with a goal in the 17th minute of the opening UCL match of the 2026/27 season.
Llorente’s Anfield obsession
In March 2020, during the round of 16 of the 2019/20 Champions League, Llorente scored twice in a 3-2 Atletico victory that knocked the reigning champions out of the competition. That result stunned a Liverpool side that had looked nearly invincible on home soil in European competition.
Fast forward to their September 2025 meeting, and Llorente was at it again. He bagged two goals to drag Atletico back into a match that looked to be slipping away. The game was level at 2-2 before Virgil van Dijk powered home a stoppage-time header to steal a 3-2 win for Liverpool.
Now, in the first match of the new Champions League campaign, the 31-year-old has picked up right where he left off. His 17th-minute strike gave Atletico an early cushion at a ground where the home crowd typically makes life miserable for visiting sides.
What the early lead means for both sides
For Atletico, scoring first at Anfield is close to an ideal scenario. Simeone’s tactical blueprint becomes significantly more dangerous when his team can sit in a compact defensive shape and invite the opposition onto them.
Liverpool entered this match as favorites, buoyed by strong recent form and bolstered by new signings heading into the 2026/27 campaign. This is the opening fixture of the 2026/27 campaign for both clubs, meaning a win at Anfield would be a massive statement of intent from Atletico, while dropping points at home in the first game would put Liverpool in a position of needing to make up ground quickly.
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