The pressure sits, unusually, on the new coach rather than the veteran.
Anfield hosts the Spanish visitors at 8pm local time on 9 September in Liverpool’s first league-phase match of the reshaped Champions League, confirmed by the club when tickets went on sale. It is Iraola’s first Champions League game as Liverpool head coach, and it lands against the manager who has spent years turning European away nights into a discipline of their own.
Iraola, appointed in the summer after three seasons at Bournemouth, has yet to win in the Premier League. Anthony Elanga put Newcastle in front inside the first five minutes of the opening weekend, and it took a Dominik Szoboszlai penalty in the 99th minute to salvage a 2-2 draw. A week later, Nottingham Forest twice led at Anfield before Víctor Muñoz equalised in the 82nd minute to make it 2-2 again. Iraola travels to Ipswich Town on Friday before the Atlético fixture arrives.
Simeone stays on for another year
Diego Simeone will remain in charge after the club and coach agreed to continue together rather than trigger an exit clause available last summer. Atlético have not lifted a trophy in five years, but they have twice reached the Champions League final under him, and no side in the modern game travels as comfortably with a low block and a plan.
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They arrive at Anfield in stronger recent form than the hosts. Atlético beat Sevilla 3-1 in LaLiga on 29 August, part of a run described by Goal as three wins, one draw and one defeat in their last five matches. The same preview notes Liverpool hold a narrow head-to-head advantage in recent Champions League meetings, with three wins to Atlético’s two across their last five European encounters.
Iraola still measuring what he inherited
Iraola has sounded like a coach taking stock of a squad he did not build.
“I’m happy now that I know what we have. I have a lot of quality in the team,” he told reporters after the transfer window closed.
His verdict on the opening weekend was less relaxed.
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“It’s a strange feeling. Not the result we wanted but it’s true, the way we scored the goal in the end, it tastes better,” he said after the Newcastle draw.
His profile at Liverpool describes him as a coach “who subscribes to a fearless and relentless brand of attacking football.”
Eight matches through to late January
The Champions League opener is one match in a punishing block for Liverpool. Their league-phase route after Atlético runs through LASK away, Villarreal at home, Fenerbahçe and Club Brugge on the road, then Porto, Inter Milan and Lens across a competition in which the top eight teams qualify directly for the round of 16 and clubs finishing ninth to 24th enter a knockout playoff.
Kick-off at Anfield is 8pm local time on Wednesday, 9 September.
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