Liverpool’s Champions League season starts under the Anfield lights on Wednesday night, and Andoni Iraola is ready to roll the dice.
This is not the old, familiar Liverpool easing into Europe with a settled XI and a predictable rhythm. This is a new manager, a new press, and a squad already being stretched and shuffled as Atletico Madrid arrive with all their streetwise edge.
Iraola’s rotation begins
Iraola signposted it straight after the win at Ipswich on Friday. The intensity of his forward press and rapid transitions will demand fresh legs, so the early weeks of the season were never going to be about continuity. They were about survival and sharpness.
He made that clear when he name-checked Jeremy Frimpong and Ronald Araujo in his post‑match interview, underlining that both will be “needed from the start” in different games. Atletico at Anfield feels like one of those nights.
Frimpong, dropped at Portman Road, suddenly looks a strong candidate to come straight back in. His pace and aggression down the flank fit perfectly with Iraola’s demand to squeeze the pitch and suffocate opponents high up. Against a side as stubborn and compact as Atletico, width and direct running will matter.
Araujo to the middle?
At the back, the picture is shifting. Jeremy Jacquet has already been subbed in Liverpool’s first two Premier League games and “limped over the line” at the weekend. He is clearly not yet ready to see out matches at this level every three days.
That opens the door for Araujo to slide into the centre of defence alongside Virgil van Dijk. On paper, it’s a formidable pairing: Van Dijk’s authority and reading of the game, Araujo’s timing and physicality. In reality, it might be a necessity as much as a luxury, with Iraola needing reliability against a team that punishes hesitation.
If that change happens, it reshapes the whole defensive line. The back four becomes less about experimentation and more about hard edges and experience. Against Atletico, that matters.
Midfield shake-up
The churn will not stop at the back. In midfield, Alexis Mac Allister is a candidate to drop out, with Ryan Gravenberch poised to come in and resume his partnership with Dominik Szoboszlai.
That pairing offers drive and verticality. Gravenberch can carry the ball through pressure, Szoboszlai can rip games open with his passing and shooting. Under Iraola, both are asked to hunt the ball high, then break lines quickly once it’s won. Atletico’s compact block will test that bravery.
Trey Nyoni is also pushing hard. He has impressed off the bench this season and is edging closer to a full Champions League start. If Iraola wants one more runner from deep, one more body to swarm second balls, Nyoni gives him that option.
Wataru Endo will not feature at all in Europe for now, having been left out of Liverpool’s Champions League squad list. It is a clear signal of how Iraola sees the balance of his midfield for this campaign. Victor Munoz, meanwhile, might be spared the midweek strain, another likely candidate for a rest as the schedule tightens.
Isak leads the line
Up front, the picture is clearer. Alexander Isak will spearhead the attack after being taken off just after the hour mark at Ipswich, a substitution that looked like classic Champions League preservation. Before he left the pitch, he had already done his damage, scoring a brace for the first time in Liverpool colours.
That matters. Strikers thrive on rhythm and validation. Isak now has both, and he walks into Europe with the confidence of a man who knows the net is finding him, not the other way around.
What happens around him is less certain. Cody Gakpo has started the season sharply with one goal and three assists, knitting attacks together and building what looks like a promising partnership with Isak. The temptation to keep that axis intact on a big European night will be strong.
But Iraola has options. Bradley Barcola and Rio Ngumoha are waiting, each offering a different kind of threat if the Dutch forward is rotated. Barcola brings direct running and unpredictability, Ngumoha raw pace and fearlessness. If Iraola wants to stretch Atletico’s back line laterally or attack tired legs in the second half, both profiles fit.
Wirtz in the pocket
Behind the front line, Florian Wirtz is set to continue in the pocket, the creative hinge of Iraola’s system. He drifts into spaces others do not see, turns quickly, and looks to punch passes between the lines. Under a manager who prizes fast transitions, Wirtz becomes the man who turns chaos into chances.
This is where Liverpool’s new identity is clearest. Win the ball, find Wirtz, run. It sounds simple. It rarely is against Atletico.
Yet that is the challenge that now defines Iraola’s early months: can this high‑tempo, aggressive Liverpool impose itself on one of Europe’s most disciplined defensive units?
Rotation or not, there will be no hiding place under the Anfield lights.
