A reminder of the teams

Liverpool (4-3-3) Kelleher, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Tsimikas; Jones, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Gakpo, Diaz.
Substitutes: Jaros, Davies, Gomez, Endo, Szoboszlai, Nunez, Robertson, Quansah, Morton, Bradley.

Bayer Leverkusen (possible 3-5-1-1) Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Palacios, Garcia, Xhaka, Grimaldo; Wirtz; Boniface.
Substitutes: Kovar, Lomb, Hofmann, Andrich, Arthur, Schick, Tella, Onyeka.

Referee Danny Makkelie (Holland)

“Hello from California!” weeps Peter Oh. “Blame it on election day jitters, but I have no idea how this match will turn out. It’s a fascinating technical area matchup, with a Slot machine on one side and a Liverkusen legend on the other.”

Plenty of other games tonight, including Celtic v Leipzig and Ruben Amorim v Pep Guardiola. You can follow those matches with Yara El-Shaboury.

Xabi Alonso talks to Amazon Prime Video (whose panel includes his old dance partner Frank Lampard)

It feels great to be back. It can’t get much better than a Champions League game at Anfield. The new stand looks fantastic and we’re really looking forward to the game.

[Lampard: Have you told your players about the Anfield atmosphere?] Not too much, not too much. We’re focussing more on the opponent. For sure there is a moment when Anfield gets up that you need to have a plan, so let’s see.

It’s mainly about the football and playing against Liverpool, who are probably the best team in Europe at the moment. For us, it’s a great game, probably our toughest [in the league stage].

We need to play with personality, courage and ideas. If we do that, it’s enough to get something from Anfield.

Forty is the new thirty

Xabi Alonso on his return to Anfield

Arne Slot talks to Amazon Prime Video

One of the strengths that this team has had for years is that they know they can fight back, and we had to do that against Brighton because the first half was quite poor from our side and very good from Brighton. I don’t think there was a bit more intensity in the second half, there was a lot more!

[On his team selection tonight] We only have four attackers available at the moment and there a lot of games to be played. I chose not to play Darwin because he has played a lot recently and today is a good game to play Lucho.

It looks like they may have changed their system to play with three midfielders. We have to be ready for both scenarios.

[Is it a special night?] I’m looking forward to every home game, especially in Europe, and this is one of them. The next one [Real Madrid] is pretty big as well.

“Is it too iconoclastic to say that Alonso wasn’t the same player at Liverpool after Lampard broke his ankle?” says Niall Mullen. “Don’t get me wrong, he was better than Christian Poulsen but, in my worthless opinion, he became a much better player after leaving Anfield (possibly because of the slower pace of La Liga). Then again I was there (and utterly bamboozled) when he did this so what do I know?”

Wasn’t the leg break halfway through his first season? He achieved a fair bit after that, including that marvellous assist (very Cole Palmer) and at least 48 goals from inside his own half. But you’d know better than me as a Liverpool fan.

Team news: Konate fit to start

Preamble