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Andoni Iraola was appointed Liverpool manager on the back of a promising three seasons at Bournemouth, where he oversaw ever-improving Premier League finishes, from 12th in his first campaign to ninth in his second and then sixth last season.

After leading the Cherries into the Europa League, Iraola made the switch to Liverpool as replacement for sacked manager Arne Slot.

He now has the chance to prove his credentials at a club that has won 13 European trophies and six in the European Cup/Champions League.

The Spaniard will get an early a taste of life as a Champions League manager, and all the fixture congestion that involves.

September will see him lead Liverpool in three competitions, with a third-round Carabao Cup tie on the horizon, as well as matches in the Champions League and Premier League, finishing the month with a quickfire return to Bournemouth.

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Liverpool's matches in September:

• 09 Sep - Liverpool v Atletico Madrid (Champions League)
• 12 Sep - Liverpool v Fulham (Premier League)
• 15 Sep - Liverpool v Tottenham (EFL Cup)
• 20 Sep - Bournemouth v Liverpool (Premier League)

Liverpool made a tentative start to their first Premier League campaign under new manager Andoni Iraola, with back-to-back 2-2 draws against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest.

But they showed promising signs in their last match at newly promoted Ipswich Town, where they cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win, courtesy of a first-half brace from Alexander Isak.

Sweden striker Isak endured a difficult first season at Anfield following his protracted, record-breaking £125m move from Newcastle last summer.

Injuries and a loss of form blighted his debut campaign for the Reds, but the 26-year-old now looks to be coming good, according to football journalist Luke Edwards.

"If Liverpool are going to have anything like the season they aspire to have then he [Isak] has to be that world class centre-forward," Edwards told the Football Daily podcast.

"They were very, very good Alexander Isak finishes [against Ipswich]. It was the first time in 12 months that he has looked like a £125m centre-forward. Liverpool need him to come good."

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Liverpool have played Atletico Madrid nine times in European competition and hold a 4-3 advantage overall, with two draws.

The Reds have won three of their five ties at Anfield against Atletico, losing one and drawing the other.

Their most recent victory came in the league phase of the Champions League last September, when Virgil van Dijk's stoppage-time header gave Arne Slot's side a thrilling 3-2 win.

Diego Simeone's side bounced back from that defeat to qualify for the knockout stages and only narrowly missed out on a place in the final after losing a tense last-four encounter with Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate.

Atletico, who host this season's Champions League final, are sixth in La Liga after four matches and go into this tie on the back of 3-0 league defeat at Athletic Club.

Liverpool have not tasted Champions League glory since beating Tottenham in the final in 2019.

As mentioned, Uefa's showpiece game was held at Atletico Madrid's Estadio Metropolitano that season and will once again host the final of the 2026-27 campaign.

But can Andoni Iraola's side make the return trip and repeat the success of Jurgen Klopp's 2018-19 vintage?

Ironically, they start their quest on Wednesday at home to Atletico, who will be on a mission of their own...

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The Estadio Metropolitano, home to Atletico Madrid, will host the 2026/27 Champions League on Saturday 5 June 2027.

This will be sixth final to be held in Madrid and the second time that the Estadio Metropolitano has held the showpiece.

In 2019, Liverpool defeated Tottenham 2-0 at the ground to earn their sixth Champions League title.

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Aadam Patel
Football Reporter

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One of the big talking points when Andoni Iraola was appointed as Liverpool boss was the question of how he would fare with two games a week.

We’ll get our first idea of that this week and it must be a positive for Iraola and Liverpool that both of those games are at home, starting with the visit of Atletico Madrid tomorrow before Fulham come to Anfield on Saturday.

For Iraola, there will be certainly be a sense of excitement when he speaks at Anfield ahead of what will be his first ever Champions League game as a manager. Alexis Mac Allister will also take part in the media duties.

As always, a European night at Anfield will be quite the occasion and even more so, against a familiar face in Diego Simeone. The Atletico boss clashed with Liverpool fans at the end of their 3-2 defeat at Anfield last season.

Julian Alvarez, who wanted to leave Atletico for Barcelona over the summer window, has travelled with the squad to England.

OK, to Liverpool next.

Manager Andoni Iraola and Alexis Mac Allister are about to face the media before Wednesday's Champions League opener at home to last season's semi-finalists Atletico Madrid...

Ballon d'Or

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Remember this guy?

Cape Verde’s 40‑year‑old World Cup hero Vozinha has capped his remarkable summer with a nomination for the Ballon d’Or goalkeeper of the year award.

Full goalkeeper nomination list:

• Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid/Belgium)
• Joan Garcia (Barcelona/Spain)
• Gregor Kobel (Borussia Dortmund/Switzerland)
• Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa/Chelsea/Argentina)
• Edouard Mendy (Al-Ahli/Senegal)
• David Raya (Arsenal/Spain)
• Yassine Bounou (Al-Hilal/Morocco)
• Matvey Safonov (Paris St-Germain/Russia)
• Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao/Spain)
• Vozinha (Colo-Colo/Cape Verde)

Right, we have some more Ballon d'Or news now before we switch our attention to Liverpool, who have a news conference coming up at around 13:00 BST...

Arsenal

Some team news ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Napoli on Wednesday.

After a few weeks of individual work, Jurrien Timber has rejoined full training as he continues his recovery from a long‑term groin injury.

Bruno Guimaraes has also returned after he was absent from the squad that beat Chelsea on Sunday.

There was no sign of Christian Mosquera, who was forced off in their recent win over Aston Villa with a muscular problem.

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When it comes to the league phase, Liverpool have the easiest draw according to Opta's power rankings while Stuttgart have the easiest run overall and Inter Milan the most favourable of the teams from pot one.

Arsenal also have a relatively favourable draw. Despite drawing Real Madrid and Bayern Munich from pot one, Mikel Arteta's side also drew the two lowest-ranked sides in the competition - Sabah and Slovan Bratislava.

Manchester City face the toughest fixtures of the English clubs with only five teams receiving a tougher draw overall. They have drawn two European giants from pot one in Barcelona and PSG, while 24th-ranked Napoli are a particularly difficult test from pot three.

Last season, Arsenal finished top of the league phase after being given one of the easiest fixture lists according to Opta, while Bayern Munich finished second despite being handed the toughest set of opponents of all 36 sides.

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If we take anything away from these fixtures, apart from a sense of shame on my part, it is that there are some tough games in there for all of the Premier League clubs.

Which begs the question, which English team has the best run of fixtures in the league phase?

Liverpool

• Atletico Madrid (home)
• Inter Milan (away)
• Porto (home)
• Club Brugge (away)
• Villarreal (home)
• Fenerbahce (away)
• Lens (home)
• LASK (away)

Aston Villa

• PSG (home)
• Barcelona (away)
• Borussia Dortmund (home)
• Club Brugge (away)
• Fenerbahce (home)
• Galatasaray (away)
• Viking (home)
• Slavia Prague (away)

Manchester United

• Bayern Munich (home)
• Atletico Madrid (away)
• Roma (home)
• Sporting Club (away)
• Leipzig (home)
• Villarreal (away)
• Sabah (home)
• Como (away)

Apologies for getting carried away with these fixtures.

At this point I believe it is important to note that they are not in the order these matches will be played...

They are grouped in the seeding order, so the top seeds first, down to the bottom seeds.

Manchester City

• PSG (home)
• Barcelona (away)
• Sporting Club (home)
• Porto (away)
• Napoli (home)
• RB Leipzig (away)
• AEK Athens (home)
• Lens (away)

We have an Arsenal update coming up shortly as Mikel Arteta has been putting his players through their paces in an open training session this morning...