PreviewLiverpool v Atletico Madrid stats: A first for Andoni Iraola, head-to-head record and more
Andoni Iraola will coach in the Champions League for the first time when Liverpool host Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
The Reds welcome Atleti to Anfield on matchday one of this season's league phase and the game will represent Iraola's first as a manager in the competition.
Liverpool's boss does have previous European experience, however, as he coached AEK Larnaca in 12 Europa League fixtures in 2018-19.
Read our round-up of pre-match facts and figures, courtesy of LFC statistician Ged Rea, below.
The clubs have met nine times before, with Liverpool winning four and Atletico three. The Reds have won three of the five matches played at Anfield.
Liverpool have won each of the last three clashes, one in Madrid and the latter two at Anfield.
The Reds have only kept one clean sheet in their nine games against Atletico, in a 2-0 victory at Anfield in November 2021.
The sides also met at Anfield on matchday one of last season's Champions League league phase, with Virgil van Dijk scoring a stoppage-time winner in a 3-2 victory for Liverpool.
This is Liverpool's 51st season of European football and their 30th in the European Cup/Champions League.
This is the third season of the Champions League's expanded league phase. The Reds won 13 of their 16 league-phase fixtures across 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Liverpool lost both legs of last season's quarter-final against eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain 2-0. They have have not lost three European games in a row since the 2014-15 Champions League campaign.
The Reds are looking to avoid a second successive home defeat in Europe, which they last suffered in 2009-10 by losing to Olympique Lyonnais and Fiorentina.
None of Liverpool's last 43 European outings have ended in a draw (29 wins, 14 defeats). The last draw was the 3-3 with Benfica at Anfield in April 2022.
None of the Reds' last 81 Champions League group stage/league phase games have finished 0-0, since a goalless draw at PSV Eindhoven in 2006-07.
Liverpool have won 14 of their last 15 Champions League group stage/league phase fixtures at Anfield, losing the other.
Iraola drew one and lost three of his encounters with Atletico while in charge of Rayo Vallecano. As a player, he faced them 24 times with Athletic Club.
This will be the seventh season in a row that the Reds have faced a team from Madrid in the Champions League.
This will be Liverpool’s 58th match against an opponent from Spain (the highest number of games that they have played against teams from a single nation in European competition). Twenty-four of those encounters have been won.
Twenty-two European hat-tricks have been scored by Liverpool players down the years, but none against Spanish opponents.