Liverpool travel to Italy this evening as they take on AC Milan in the first match of their Champions League campaign. A glorious start to the season for new boss Arne Slot hit a severe roadblock on Saturday when the Reds were beaten 1-0 at home to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League and the Dutchman will be hoping to get his team back on track tonight.
The Reds did not qualify for Europe’s top flight last season and stumbled in the Europa League quarter-finals where they were beaten by eventual winners Atalanta. The players, manager and fans will all be hoping for an extended run in the competition this year and signs are mixed on whether Liverpool can ease into the knockout stages.
Facing AC Milan in their opening fixtures perhaps represents a diffcult start but with Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen waiting in the wings this is a match where Liverpool should try an assert some authority onto the newly revamped Champions League table.
Follow all the action with our live blog below to see if the Reds can triumph at the San Siro:
AC Milan host Liverpool in their first match of the 2024/25 Champions League campaign, live on Amazon Prime Video
41’ GOAL! Van Dijk scores from a corner to put Liverpool ahead (MIL 1-2 LIV)
29’ CROSSBAR! Salah hits the top bar a second time (MIL 1-1 LIV)
23’ GOAL! Konate meets Alexander-Arnold’s free kick and heads home (MIL 1-1 LIV)
15’ CROSSBAR! Mo Salah hits the woodwork as Liverpool search for equaliser (MIL1-0 LIV)
3’ GOAL! Pulisic strikes early for the hosts (MIL 1-0 LIV)
20:42 , Mike Jones
Kostas Tsimikas is the man to take this corner kick and hangs a simple cross into the penalty area. Virgil van Dijk makes his move late, times his jump expertly and guides a header past the goalkeeper.
Liverpool lead!
20:41 , Mike Jones
40 mins: Save! Liverpool move the ball quickly and hit Milan on the break. The ball comes over to Salah who drives to the box, moves onto his left foot and targets the bottom right corner.
Mike Maignan leaps across and pushes the ball wide and out for a corner.
20:39 , Mike Jones
38 mins: Cody Gakpo is hungry tonight. He receives the bal 25 yards or so out from goal. Spins a defender then shoots. The strike is decent enough but it’s straight at Mike Maignan who clings onto the ball.
20:36 , Mike Jones
35 mins: More set piece time now. Alexander-Arnold hovering over the ball in the corner as the referee sorts out a bit of argy bargy in the box.
Alexander-Arnold’s delivery only comes to Gakpo at the near post but he can only pass it back to his teammate. Liverpool don’t threaten from the move and Milan recover possession.
20:33 , Mike Jones
32 mins: Youssouf Fofana has a tug at Salah and almost drags him down. Salah stays on his feet and tries to thread a pass into the box which doesn’t get through.
The referee blows the whistle and brings play back for Fofana’s foul. Trent Alexander-Arnold takes the free kick and shoots but hits the wall.
20:31 , Mike Jones
29 mins: Woodwork!
Cody Gakpo flies down the left, darts into the box and fizzes a shot at goal only for Mike Maignan to turn the ball into the path of Mo Salah.
He shifts to the left to avoid a defender then shoots high to beat the sprawling goalkeeper. The ball strikes the crossbar and bounces back into play before getting booted clear!
20:27 , Mike Jones
26 mins: That goal may encourage Milan to play out again and come at Liverpool. They were the most threatening in the opening few minutes with willing runners and quick passes.
The downside to that is Liverpool are quick on the counter. Szoboszlai proves that with a run up the pitch before slipping Jota into the box.
He shoots but turns the effort wide of the near post.
20:24 , Mike Jones
Trent Alexander-Arnold flicks the set piece into the middle of the six-yard box. He hangs the ball tantilisingly for Mike Maignan who comes out to punch it.
Ibrahima Konate beats him in the air though and nods the ball into the back of the net.
Liverpool are level!
20:23 , Mike Jones
21 mins: Harry Kane has converted a penalty for Bayern Munich in one of the other Champions League matches taking place right now. The England captain continues to excel for the German side.
Back at the San Siro, Davide Calabria has clattered into Cody Gakpo resulting in a free kick and a yellow card.
20:20 , Mike Jones
18 mins: At the other end of the pitch, Christian Pulisic delivers a free kick into the penalty area and picks out Rafael Leao. He nods it across the box to keep the attack going but Virgil van Dijk is there to clear his lines.
20:18 , Mike Jones
15 mins: This is a trst for Arne Slot. Liverpool come into this match on the back of a defeat to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
They’re behind against AC Milan and working the ball around slowly. It comes across to Mo Salah who injects some speed into proceedings and dances into the box before checking to the right and blazing a shot onto the underside of the crossbar!
20:13 , Mike Jones
12 mins: Oh! Dominik Szoboszlai sweeps the ball out to the left wing where Cody Gakpo dribbles to the edge of the box.
He dances to the right and looks for Diogo Jota in the box but a header from Fikayo Tomori takes the ball intothe hands of Mike Maignan and the attack ends.
Positive signs for Liverpool though.
20:10 , Mike Jones
9 mins: Liverpool don’t seem to have been rocked by that goal. Now that the game has resumed, Milan have dropped deeper and are playing with a more compact shape.
It’ll be tough for Liverpool to break them down but they’ll see more possession.
20:07 , Mike Jones
6 mins: Play has not yet resumed since the goal as Mike Maignan went down. The Milan goalkeeper receives a bit of treatment then is back on his feet ready to continue.
The opening goal came in just two minutes 46 seconds.
20:05 , Mike Jones
There’s the opener!
Mike Maignan boots the ball out to the right wing where Kostas Tsimikas comes forward to challenge for the aerial ball. Christian Pulisic beats him in the air and nods it to Alvaro Morata who returns the ball to him.
Pulisic flies into the vacant space, takes the ball into the box then smokes a low effort across goal and finds the inside of the far post!
20:04 , Mike Jones
2 mins: Danger!
Rafael Leao collects the ball on the left wing and darts inside before feeding a pass in behind the Liverpool defence. Tijjani Reijnders makes the ball and receives the ball before squaring it into the six-yard box.
Virgil van Dijk back tracks but clears it just as the offside flag goes up.
20:01 , Mike Jones
Liverpool get the ball rolling at the San Siro and send it long. The ball drops into the AC Milan half and gets cleared all the way back to Virgil van Dijk who controls it and starts to slowly build out from the back.
19:56 , Mike Jones
Here come the teams. Virgil van Dijk leads out Liverpool at the San Siro. AC Milan have edged the head-to-head meetings seven to six.
Will Liverpool draw level tonight? Kick off is up next…
19:52 , Mike Jones
How will Liverpool go tonight then? Aston Villa have just completed a fantastic victory over Young Boys. Can the Reds pick up the three points as well?
19:50 , Mike Jones
This is Liverpool’s 49th season of European competition and their 28th campaign in the European Cup/Champions League.
It is only the fifth European clash between the two sides who previously met in the 2005 and 2007 finals of the Champions League and twice during the competition’s group stage in 2021-22.
19:45 , Mike Jones
This is Liverpool’s 16th Champions League campaign; they have reached the final five times, lifting the trophy in 2005 and 2019.
The Merseyside club last featured in 2022/23, finishing second in their section behind Napoli before being edged out by Real Madrid in the round of 16.
19:40 , Mike Jones
Arne Slot knows that he walks in the footsteps of giants at Liverpool. A realist is aware certain references to them are inevitable, particularly of his immediate predecessor. There are times he mentions Jurgen Klopp before anyone else has. And yet, for one night only, the most relevant comparison is not with the German.
Slot’s opening night with Liverpool in Europe, a date with AC Milan, is an instant reminder of Rafa Benitez’s greatest night. If ‘the miracle of Istanbul’ has competition for Liverpool’s most famous game in Europe, it comes from Klopp’s surreal demolition of Barcelona in 2019. There will be other echoes of the 2005 Champions League final in Slot’s debut European campaign on Merseyside: Xabi Alonso, scorer of the equaliser in that 3-3 draw, visits Anfield with Bayer Leverkusen in November and, had he wanted to, perhaps could have been in the home dugout then.
The vital question behind Arne Slot’s Champions League hopes
19:35 , Mike Jones
The Rossoneri faced English opposition at home in last season’s Champions League, drawing 0-0 against Newcastle United at San Siro. They subsequently won 2-1 away on Matchday 6 to seal third place in Group F.
That was only Milan’s second victory against English clubs in 13 games (three draws, eight defeats), since a 4-0 success against Arsenal in the 2011/12 round of 16 first leg.
The victories against Arsenal, Spurs in the 2022/23 round of 16 first leg and Newcastle are Milan’s only wins in their last 21 games against Premier League opponents with six draws and 12 losses in that run.
19:30 , Mike Jones
The two sides last faced each other at San Siro in the Champions League group stage in 2021, with the visitors getting the win.
Fikayo Tomori had put Milan into the lead before goals from Mo Salah and Divock Origi completed a comeback victory for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool who triumphed 2-1.
19:25 , Mike Jones
Liverpool have won the competition six times, most recently in 2019, in an all-English final against Tottenham. Will Arne Slot lead them to a seventh triumph this season?
19:20 , Mike Jones
The AC Milan head coach said: “Liverpool are a great team, one of the strongest in Europe with very strong positional play and with individuality that we all know.
“We have to be defensively perfect to win.
2We can’t make mistakes; otherwise, they score goals. We have to be a complete team to defend and then attack with stability. Tomorrow’s match is an opportunity to show our improvements.
“I’m sure the fans will have an impact on tomorrow’s game. Their support is important for us. We need their love.”
19:15 , Mike Jones
When Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin attends the first games of the new Champions League this week, it will be with a considerable security detail. This has led to grumbles from federation staff, especially since very few people outside football know what he even looks like. There have probably only been two moments when the Slovenian official was properly in the public eye.
One was when the Super League was launched in April 2021 and Ceferin admirably defended the spirit of European football in a defiant media appearance, all while lambasting executives as “snakes” and “liars”. Less publicised from that day was the fact Uefa were also in the process of approving the changes to the Champions League we are going to see enacted this week.
The new Champions League sets up a high-stakes game in football’s ‘turning point’
19:10 , Mike Jones
It is safe to say that AC Milan forward, Alvaro Morata, is excited about taking on Liverpool this evening. He spoke in the build-up to the match about how big games like this tend to go down in history.
Morata said: “Since I signed for this club, I’ve been imagining playing a match like this. This game could be a semi-final or a final.
“The desire to do well and make the fans proud is at its highest. Games like tomorrow’s are the ones that make history, and we can’t wait to play.
“The Champions League is the Champions League; it doesn’t matter how or when you get there, it’s where the best teams in Europe compete. We are very motivated.”
19:05 , Mike Jones
“He’s a great goalkeeper. He has done incredibly well for three, four, five years.
“Since he came to Milan, he has always played wonderfully, and with the French national team he has replaced a great goalkeeper (Hugo Lloris). He is a very physical player – quick, technical.”
19:00 , Mike Jones
Alisson Becker, the Liverpool goalkeeper, took on media duties alongside his manager Arne Slot and spoke about what it feels like to be playing Champions League football again.
He said: “Imagine not doing something you really like doing for a year, and how much you’d be looking forward to doing it again.
“That’s the way we feel. Playing in the Champions League is one of the reasons I came to Europe from Brazil. We will do our best to try and win it.”
18:55 , Mike Jones
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker has called on football’s authorities to speak to players about their welfare as the Reds prepare to start an expanded Champions League campaign.
Uefa’s elite club-level competition now involves 36 teams, which means an extra two matches in a group stage which now does not finish until the end of January as opposed to mid-December.
“For the supporters, it is amazing. More games, more bigger games, big teams against each other,” he said ahead of the clash against AC Milan in the San Siro.
“For us players as well, it is good that you are going to play against the best in Europe – and it is always a good idea to add some games to the calendar that is not busy… I am being ironic a little bit.
“Sometimes nobody asks the players what they think about adding more games so maybe our opinion does not matter.
“But everybody knows what we think about having more games. Everybody is tired of that but we have to bring those kind of things on side and stay focused on the big challenge we have here.”
18:49 , Mike Jones
AC Milan XI: Maignan, Calabria, Tomori, Fofana, T. Hernandez; Loftus-Cheek, Reijnders, Pavlovic; Pulisic, Morata, Rafael Leao
18:46 , Mike Jones
Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Salah, Jota, Gakpo
18:40 , Mike Jones
As star players approach the new Champions League season this week, there are still many who don’t get the new format. Uefa even joked about it in its promotional video at the draw. The players are far from alone in this, with plenty of fans and even club executives having the same discussion.
It could be argued this is a real problem for the basic functioning of a competition, not to mention how it represents the needless complication of a sport that is historically popular due to its simplicity. There is still hope within Uefa that everyone will understand once the reality of the games and the table take shape in front of their eyes. That’s quite a rare justification but then, this whole change represents quite a leap. It also represents the start of an era where our understanding and expectations of how football works will be completely scrambled.
The real reason behind the Champions League’s new format
18:35 , Mike Jones
Instead of 32 competing sides being divided into eight groups of four, all 36 teams in this year’s Champions League will form a single league. Each entrant will play four games at home and four games away for a total of eight fixtures, two more than under the previous format. These eight encounters will be with eight different opponents.
The top eight sides in the league after the competition’s first phase will progress directly to the last-16. Teams placed ninth to 24th will have to negotiate a play-off round, while teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated from all European competition.
The 36 clubs will be seeded into four different pots based on their individual club coefficient at the start of the season. Each team will face two sides from each pot, one at home and one away. Pot 1 will include defending champions Real Madrid and the other strongest club sides by Uefa coefficient.
18:30 , Mike Jones
The Liverpool manager Arne Slot says there is no fear in his team over tonight’s trip to the San Siro. Speaking in his pre-match press conference he said: “I don’t think any manager is scared to play the other team, but we have a lot of respect for AC Milan.
“They have quality; we’re not scared but we respect all their players. They have shown they are in good form with a very good 4-0 win [against Venezia]. Scared is not the word we would use. We respect a lot.”
Slot also addressed the new Champions League format and picked out a couple of positives saying: “As someone who loves football, every night there is a nice fixture. For example, tomorrow everyone who loves football is looking forward to our game. It is positive for the person at home, [and] for the players.”
18:25 , Mike Jones
It used to be that Milan-Liverpool matches would crown Champions League seasons rather than kick them off, and it’s not the only thing about Tuesday’s meeting that has been upended. The two clubs have consistently been the names directly underneath Real Madrid in the competition’s list of honours since 1990, at which point the Spanish club had six European Cups, with Milan and Liverpool four apiece.
It’s now 15, seven, six. Despite that almost perpetual status as the next greatest clubs on the continent, AC Milan and Liverpool actually only met four times before Tuesday’s fixture at the San Siro. More fittingly, two of those have been Champions League finals, and it was after the last of those that the late Silvio Berlusconi triumphantly came out with the following:
The fixture which shows football’s changing face – and how Milan got left behind
18:20 , Mike Jones
Thursday 19 September
17:45 Feyenoord v Bayer 04 Leverkusen – TNT Sports 2
17:45 FK Crvena Zvezda v SL Benfica – TNT Sports 4
20:00 Atalanta BC v Arsenal FC – TNT Sports 1
20:00 AS Monaco v FC Barcelona – TNT Sports 2
20:00 Atlético de Madrid v RB Leipzig – TNT Sports 4
20:00 Stade Brestois 29 v SK Sturm Graz – TNT Sports 5
18:15 , Mike Jones
Wednesday 18 September
17:45 AC Sparta Praha v FC Salzburg – TNT Sports 6
17:45 Bologna FC 1909 v FC Shakhtar Donetsk – TNT Sports 4
20:00 Celtic FC v ŠK Slovan Bratislava – TNT Sports 2
20:00 Club Brugge KV v Borussia Dortmund – TNT Sports 5
20:00 Manchester City v FC Internazionale Milano – TNT Sports 1
20:00 Paris Saint-Germain v Girona FC – TNT Sports 4
18:10 , Mike Jones
All times UK (BST)
Tuesday 17 September
17:45 BSC Young Boys v Aston Villa FC – TNT Sports 1
17:45 Juventus v PSV Eindhoven – TNT Sports 2
20:00 AC Milan v Liverpool FC – Amazon Prime Video
20:00 FC Bayern München v GNK Dinamo – TNT Sports 2
20:00 Real Madrid C.F. v VfB Stuttgart – TNT Sports 1
20:00 Sporting Clube de Portugal v LOSC Lille – TNT Sports 4
18:05 , Mike Jones
Real Madrid are already planning their next European era, as they are aiming to sign Rodri, Trent Alexander-Arnold and either William Saliba or Cristian Romero.
The ambitious scale comes after a half-decade of financial realignment, where the Spanish champions targeted younger players in order to build a squad for the future.
The strategy was partly influenced by the feeling it was getting increasingly difficult to economically compete with the Premier League and state-owned clubs.
Real Madrid target Trent Alexander-Arnold as part of ambitious new transfer era
18:00 , Mike Jones
Liverpool are playing their first Champions League match after missing out and competing in the Europa League last season. Tonight’s match also marks Arne Slot’s first European game in charge of the Reds.
“It’s a big game, also for me, but a big game for us,” said Slot, “Because of the history these two teams have, the venue it is played in, it is one to look forward to.”
17:55 , Mike Jones
Here’s how we see both teams taking to the pitch at the San Siro tonight:
AC Milan XI: Maignan; Emerson, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Hernandez; Reijnders, Fofana, Loftus-Cheek; Pulisic, Morata, Leao
Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Gakpo, Diaz
17:50 , Mike Jones
For Milan, Tammy Abraham scored in the 4-0 win over Venezia at the weekend and could keep his place ahead of Alvaro Morata.
Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fikayo Tomori are the other former Chelsea men who could feature against the Reds.
Captain Davide Calabria and centre-back Malick Thiaw are both doubts, while Alessandro Florenzi is out, meaning that Emerson Royal continues at full-back,
17:45 , Mike Jones
Federico Chiesa could be involved in the Liverpool squad for the first time since his move from Juventus after he was left out against Nottingham Forest.
The Italy international has been building up his fitness since arriving on deadline day. Arne Slot has not made too many changes in charge so far, but the likes of Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones will be pushing for involvement. Harvey Elliott is out.
17:40 , Mike Jones
AC Milan vs Liverpool will be shown live on Amazon Prime Video, which is available to access on smart TVs or using the Prime Video app. If you’re not an Amazon Prime Video subscriber start a free 30-day trial here.
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17:35 , Mike Jones
The match will kick off at 8pm BST on Tuesday 17 September at the San Siro in Milan. It is the first of eight fixtures for both clubs as part of the newly revamped Champions League format.
17:30 , Mike Jones
Liverpool return to the Champions League after a season out of European football’s top club competition and head to Milan for a blockbuster clash on the opening night of the new campaign.
The Reds, who lost under new boss Arne Slot for the first time in a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, previously faced Milan in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League finals.
Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool dropped out of the Champions League in 2023 but finished third in the Premier League last season to qualify for the first campaign of the new competition format.
Liverpool also have games to come against the likes of Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen to come over the next eight gameweeks, but first head to the San Siro to take on a Milan side struggling for early season form.
New boss Paulo Fonseca picked up his first win of the Serie A campaign at the weekend – a 4-0 win over Venezia – but the Rossoneri had started the season with two draws and a defeat to Parma.
15:54 , Mike Jones
Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of tonight’s Champions League action as Liverpool travel to Italy to take on AC Milan in the first round of fixtures.
It’s a new format for Europe’s top flight this season with teams each playing eight matches as part of the first phase to determine who makes it into the knockout rounds and playoffs as well as which teams are eliminated.
Liverpool’s opening match is against the Serie A side and they’ll be hoping to bounce back from a shock defeat against Nottingham Forest last time out.
We’ll have all the team news, line-ups and updates throughout the night so stick around as we build up to kick off at 8pm.
