Liverpool v PSG: Champions League – live!

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7.02pm BST

The big news is that Daniel Sturridge starts in place of Firmino, who’s only fit enough for a place on the bench. Surprisingly, Keita will be sitting alongside him as Klopp has chosen to reintroduce Henderson to midfield instead. PSG’s midfield, meanwhile, includes Marquinhos, who has moved up from centreback because of the suspension to Verratti. Both sides showing an uncharacteristic touch of caution in their lineups, then.

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Gomez, Robertson; Henderson, Milner, Wijnaldum; Salah, Mané, Sturridge

4.59pm BST

Well how about this for starters? Two of the most exciting attacks in the world trading blows right from Match Day 1 of a mouthwatering group – you can’t say tastier than that! Both of these teams have won all their domestic matches so far this season but neither of them have yet been tested in the way they are likely to be today. Will Liverpool’s new-found solidity withstand the sort of pressure that Mbappé, Cavani and

Choupo-Moting
Neymar will apply? Can PSG contain Salah, Mané and Sturridge (who replaces the injured Firmino) in an atmosphere that is sure to be intoxicating? Will the decision to start Naby Keita on the bench backfire even if PSG’s midfield is shorn of the suspended Marco Verratti? Those are just some of the questions for which we eagerly await answers, and the education promises to be highly entertaining. Humdinger ahoy!

By the way, if you hear anyone calling Liverpool fans ball-suckers, know that they mean it as a compliment. Probably. It’s all to do with the Kop’s reputation for “sucking the ball into the net” on a big European nights, when the atmosphere can reach truly mind-altering levels. Think that’s just a cliché? Well here’s what two former PSG players said about the only other time this club has played here, which was back in 1997, when the French side arrived with a three-goal lead from the first leg and were nearly blown away at Anfield, where they clung on for a 2-0 defeat. “When it got to 2-0 I started playing for the first and only time in a match with no sound,” said the PSG goalkeeper Bernard Lama. “I could no longer hear the referee nor my team-mates – just the crowd! It was genuinely impressive. All I had to go on from that point on was the gestures of my team-mates and opponents. It was a singular experience.” The PSG striker Patrice Loko said something similar: “If they had managed to take it to extra-time I think they would have beaten us because they were being pushed so hard by their crowd. So very hard.” Isn’t it nice to know that real live people still matter and it’s not just about the watching millions? OK, that match was more than 20 years ago but PSG’s current manager, Thomas Tuchel, has more recent knowledge of how the Anfield crowd and, more pertinently, Jürgen Klopp’s attack ninjas, can overwhelm the visitors. But it’d be foolish to count on PSG bottling it: Tuchel, apparently, has made them more mentally resilient since his arrival in the summer: “He has changed a lot of about the team’s mindset,” said PSG’s Dani Alves,who misses this one through injury. “I have a good feeling about this season. Things are going to improve.”

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