Liverpool 2-1 Atlético Madrid: Anfield gets its revenge on Marcos Llorente

Liverpool opened their 2026-27 Champions League campaign the hard way, falling behind at home before goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister turned a losing position into a 2-1 win over Atlético Madrid. It was tighter than the scoreline suggests, and it settled a score that had been open since 2020.

Marcos Llorente put the visitors ahead in the 17th minute, finishing from close range after Atlético worked the ball through midfield with the kind of directness Diego Simeone's sides have built a career on. Anfield had to wait until first-half stoppage time for its reply: Szoboszlai levelled in the 40th minute, and five minutes after the restart Mac Allister completed the turnaround, sliding home from inside the box to make it 2-1. Neither side found a way through again, and Liverpool held on for a result that mattered more than three ordinary points.

The name that haunted Anfield once already

Marcos Llorente scoring at Anfield against Liverpool is not a new story. In March 2020, in the last European match played in England before the pandemic shut football down, Llorente came off the bench for Atlético in the last-16 second leg and scored twice in extra time, turning a tie Liverpool were controlling into a stunning 3-2 defeat for the reigning European champions — Atlético's second leg alone finishing 3-2 after Roberto Firmino's early extra-time goal briefly put the hosts back in control. That night ended Liverpool's title defence and became one of the defining eliminations of Jürgen Klopp's Anfield era.

Six and a half years on, Llorente was back among the goals at the same stadium, opening the scoring in almost identical fashion — a clinical finish from a central position after Atlético cut through Liverpool's press. This time, though, the story did not repeat. Szoboszlai and Mac Allister answered before half-time and shortly after it, and Anfield had the finish it did not get in 2020: a Liverpool win, with the club that beat them there once now leaving with nothing.

Two sides with contrasting starts to the season

Neither club arrived at Anfield with an ideal domestic record. Liverpool sit 6th in the Premier League table after three matchweeks, on 5 points from a win and two draws, still searching for the kind of results that made them champions the season before. Atlético Madrid come into the fixture 7th in La Liga on 7 points from four games — two wins, a draw and a defeat — a solid enough start but well off the pace at the top. A Champions League win over a fellow continental heavyweight was exactly the kind of result either side needed to settle into their season, and it went Liverpool's way.

Match facts

• 17' — Marcos Llorente (Atlético Madrid)
• 40' — Dominik Szoboszlai (Liverpool)
• 50' — Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool)
• Anfield, Liverpool — Champions League league phase, matchday 1, Wednesday 9 September 2026

What's next

Liverpool take three points and a measure of revenge into the rest of the league phase, with the visit of another continental name still to come before Anfield sees a second Champions League night this autumn. Atlético Madrid, who out-fought Liverpool for large stretches without getting the goals to show for it beyond Llorente's opener, return to La Liga looking to build on a season that has so far been steady rather than spectacular.