Mohamed Salah could take two European records from Steven Gerrard with a goal against Real Madrid, a side the Reds have not recorded a victory over since 2009.
Should Mohamed Salah score, not only would he become Liverpool’s outright highest-ever goalscorer in Europe, eclipsing Steven Gerrard’s tally of 41, but he would also take Gerrard’s record of most goals at Anfield in European competition.
Both men have 18.
The Egyptian has scored three goals in 10 Champions League knockout matches at Anfield compared with 15 goals in 19 games in qualifying and group stages on home soil.
Salah has scored 41 times in 65 Champions League appearances for Liverpool.
The Reds’ bogey team
The two teams met nine times in their history, all in this competition.
The Reds won the first three without conceding a goal, but have since lost five of the six encounters, drawing the other.
Liverpool have lost to Real more times (five) than they have to any other team in European competition.
Their biggest-ever win over Madrid came at this same stage of the Champions League when they recorded a 4-0 victory in the second leg back in 2009.
Fortress Anfield
The Reds have never lost a first leg at home in Europe to a European team.
Both Anfield defeats suffered in the first game of a tie have come at the hands of English clubs – Leeds in the Fairs Cup semi-final in 1971 and Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final in 2009.
Liverpool have lost two of their last 51 games at Anfield in all competitions – to Inter Milan last season and Leeds this term.
At Anfield, Liverpool have won nine of the 23 meetings with Spanish teams and been beaten six times.
But they can record a third successive home win over Spanish opposition for the first time in their history following victories last season over Atletico Madrid and Villarreal.
Walking a tightrope
Should he receive a yellow card in this game Trent Alexander-Arnold will miss the second leg in Madrid.
150 up?
The Reds are two goals short of recording 150 in the Champions League during the tenure of Jurgen Klopp. This will be his 66th fixture.
Jordan Henderson will move into the club’s all-time top-10 appearances makers in Europe if he appears in this game. He will join Phil Neal on 74 appearances.
The Reds look to keep a third successive clean sheet for the first time since last April.
Ancelotti meets Liverpool…again
Carlo Ancelotti’s men have scored 15 times in the last four games with nine of those coming in two games on the way to winning the Club World Cup, but they have lost four of the last nine away matches on an opponents ground.
They have the highest passing accuracy of any team in this season’s competition – 91.8 percent.
Ancelotti has lost only five of his 17 managerial encounters with Liverpool, winning nine while conceding a total of 12 goals, with three coming a single six-minute spell in Istanbul in 2005.
His last defeat to Liverpool came on this ground in January 2020 when Curtis Jones scored an FA Cup winner to defeat Everton.
Penalties likely?
This Season’s Scorers
Liverpool: Salah 18, Nunez 11, Firmino 9, Elliott 5, Diaz 4, Alexander-Arnold 3, Carvalho 3, Gakpo 2, Van Dijk 2, Bajcetic 1, Matip 1, Oxlade-Chamberlain 1, own goals 4
Real Madrid: Benzema 16, Vinicius Junior 16, Valverde 12, Rodrygo 10, Asensio 6, Modric 6, Militao 4, Alaba 2, Kroos 2, Lucas Vasquez 2, Rudiger 2, Arribas 1, Ceballos 1, Hazard 1
