Liverpool Vs Leverkusen: Finally, Xabi Alonso Comes Home

JAKARTA - Minutes after Jurgen Klopp announced his surprise resignation in January 2024, Liverpool fans staged a red carpet for former midfield mogul, Xabi Alonso, to take over control of Anfield.

However, Leverkusen's boss ignored it. Not just one offer, but three from his former club. He decided to stick with Die Werkself.

When Liverpool, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid agreed to accept Alonso's refusal, the Reds officials surprisingly filed a big contract for Arne Slot.

Instead, it was unexpected that Arne Slot successfully carried out the transition from Klopp and brought Liverpool to an extraordinary performance at the start of this season.

After months of that story, Xabi Alonso finally returned to Anfield. However, the arrival of the 42-year-old coach to the headquarters of his former team this time as a guest alias an enemy.

Liverpool hosted Bayer Leverkusen, Alonso's side on the fourth matchday of the 2024/2024 Champions League, Wednesday, November 6, 2024, early morning WIB.

The Reds won three wins in the early stages of the 2024/2025 Champions League to sit in second place in the standings.

While Leverkusen are in sixth place with seven points. Alonso's men can pass Liverpool with a win at Anfield.

AC Milan, Bologna, and RB Leipzig all lost to Liverpool in the first three matches of the Champions League.

Darwin Nunez's only goal was enough to bring his team to a 1-0 win against Leipzig in October 2024.

Liverpool are just left behind about the goal difference from Aston Villa at the top of the Champions League standings with the same number of points.

However, in the last match against Brighton in the Premier League, Saturday, November 2, 2024, the Reds displayed the worst 45 start under the SLot.

They couldn't score in the first half. Luckily, they came back in the second half with goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah to hold a very difficult 2-1 win.

Fortunately, Manchester City and Arsenal both slipped in an away match in the 10th week of the Premier League so Liverpool were comfortable at the top of the table.

They are two points ahead of The Citizens after their 10th win of their last 11 games under Arne Slot.

Records continue to be set under the control of the Dutch coach. He won five consecutive home wins.

Liverpool scored at least two goals in each of those home games. They are now on the verge of equalizing their 2021/2022 Champions League record when they won in the first four games in a row.

Meanwhile, in the visitors' camp, repeating the achievements of the 2023/2024 season is a very difficult task for Alonso.

In the 2023/2024 Europa League, Leverkusen set a surprising record, which was to score at least four goals in the group stage.

Continuing in the knockout stages, Alonso's team always scored before falling in the final against Atalanta 0-3.

Leverusen is also on the right track in the Bundesliga this season with 16 points from nine matches to sit in fourth place.

They also won seven points from the win over Feyennoord and AC Milan as well as a draw that was recognized to be disappointing against Ligue 1 club Brest in the third match of the Champions League.

Die Werkself won three draws from the last four matches. One of them played goalless in the Bundesliga against VfB Stuttgart.

The score left them seven points behind the leader of the Bayern Munich standings.

The tedious draw extends Leverkusen's unbeaten record in all competitions to 11 matches.

Alonso's troops have not suffered their first away defeat of the season. They won each of their first four away games of the season. Three of them ended in a draw.

The capital is clearly an alert alarm for Liverpool. However, the threat could be dismissed by the Reds because they were above the wind regarding meeting records.

Liverpool and Leverkusen have met five times before. The Reds won four times and lost only once.

The duel will be the first clash since they last met in the last 16 of the 2004/2005 Champions League which ended in the title of the Wist Ear Trophy for Liverpool.

In this edition, Leverkusen lost 2-6 on aggregate with each defeat in the 1-3 leg.

Alonso did not appear in either match against Leverkusen because of a broken ankle. However, he became one of Liverpool's winning actors in the final.

Speaking of the composition of the players, Arne Slot certainly could not field Ibrahima Konate who was injured in the last match against Brighton.

Konate will join Alisson Becker (back thigh), Harvey Elliott (leg), Federico Chiesa (fitness), and Diogo Jota (perut) watching from the sidelines.

However, the Dutchman still has Joe Gomez. Mohamed Salah remains a mainstay ahead as he has just overtaken Robbie Fowler to eighth in the Premier League's all-time top scorer list.

Salah is also on the verge of a new record. He could be the first player in 21 years to score in six consecutive Champions League home games for the English club.

Shifting to Leverkusen, they are definitely playing without full-back Nordi Mukiele. He suffered a thigh injury during a draw against Stuttgart and is expected to be out until after the international break.

Mukiele joins Amine Adli (leg breaks) and Jeanuel Belocian (leg) in the Leverkusen treatment room.

While Martin Terrier is also not available for the last Bundesliga game, Alonso hopes he will be available for a trip to Anfield.

The return of Terrier will allow Jeremie Frimpong to replace Mukiele on the right.

Then, tough striker Florian Wirtz can be played from the early minutes. You see, he tried to become a third player under 21, after Erling Haaland andten Solomon, who scored in his first three away appearances in the Champions League.

Formation Forecast

Liverpool (4-2-3-1): Neckneck; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Salah, Jones, Diaz; Nunez

Bayer Leverkusen (3-4-2-1): Hradecky; Tapsoba, Tah, Hincapie; Frimpong, Xhaka, Garcia, Grimaldo; Terrier, Wirtz; Boniface