[Sport] Real Madrid vs Liverpool preview, team news, stats, kick-off time

[-_-Moltres-_-]

 

Team news and stats ahead of Real Madrid vs Liverpool in the Champions League last eight on Tuesday; kick-off 8pm. Team news Real Madrid will be without captain Sergio Ramos in the first meeting between the sides since Zinedine Zidane's team beat Jurgen Klopp's men in the 2018 Champions League final. Raphael Varane missed Real's game with Eibar at the weekend, seemingly rested, but the club have now confirmed he will also be absent from the tie after returning a positive Covid-19 test.

 

Zidane hinted over the weekend that Eden Hazard could be fit after a hip injury but the former Chelsea man was not named in the Spaniards' squad. Liverpool will have the same squad available that comfortably beat Arsenal at the weekend, meaning another chance for Diogo Jota to impress.

 

Klopp will still be missing captain Jordan Henderson and defensive trio Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk.

 

Jasper Taylor is joined by Roger Clarke and Gerard Brand to discuss another eventful weekend in the Premier League. PART 1: Are Liverpool back? | Trent and Fabinho praise | Arteta's 50 PL games assessed | Is Aubameyang being wasted? (06:36) PART 2: Just a freak result for Chelsea? | Werner continues to struggle | WBA's faint survival hopes (25:46) PART 3: Newcastle gain a point on Fulham - will Bruce get any credit? | Relegation predictions (39:17) PART 4: England squad winners and losers from weekend action (47:31)

 

This is the first UEFA Champions League meeting between Real Madrid and Liverpool since the 2018 final, which the Spanish side won 3-1. This was the third consecutive UEFA Champions League tournament Real Madrid had won, while Carlo Ancelotti is the only manager who has won the competition as often as Zinedine Zidane (3). Liverpool have lost each of their last three games against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League and have only suffered four consecutive defeats against an opponent across all European competitions once previously - four versus Benfica between 1984 and 2010. Real Madrid have won the first leg of eight of their last nine UEFA Champions League knockout ties, losing the other 2-1 at home to Manchester City in last season's last 16. In their only previous two-legged knockout European tie, Liverpool won 5-0 on aggregate against Real Madrid in the last 16 of the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League - Madrid's biggest ever aggregate defeat in a two-legged knockout tie in the competition. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has won each of his last five games at the quarter-final stage of the UEFA Champions League, including all four of his games at this stage while in charge of the Reds (two versus Manchester City in 2017-18 and FC Porto in 2019-20). Real Madrid have won their last three UEFA Champions League matches, last winning four in a row back in April 2018 when they had a run of five. This will be Zinedine Zidane's 50th game as a manager in the UEFA Champions League. The Real Madrid boss has won 30 of his first 49, while the only manager to have won more through their first 50 games in the competition is Josef Heynckes (32). Liverpool's Sadio Mané has scored 19 goals in 40 games in the UEFA Champions League, while he could become just the third player in club history to reach 20 goals in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, following Mohamed Salah (24) and Steven Gerrard (21). Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has scored in all three of his UEFA Champions League appearances against Liverpool, scoring four times. In the history of the European Cup/Champions League, no player has more goals against Liverpool than the Frenchman's tally of four - level with Didier Drogba. Luka Modric has assisted in each of his last two UEFA Champions League appearances for Real Madrid - an assist in this match would see him become the oldest player (35y 209d) to assist in three consecutive games since Ryan Giggs for Manchester United in April 2011, who was 37.