Xabi Alonso TEASES Real Madrid lineup to face Liverpool

Xabi Alonso takes his Real Madrid team to Anfield in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday to take on his old side Liverpool. And he's certainly teased what kind of team he'll be putting out.

Liverpool finally won the Premier League game on Saturday. They beat Aston Villa 2-0 at home - a win they needed after essentially sacrificing the Carabao Cup for it.

More than that, the result gave them much-needed momentum ahead of Real Madrid coming to town. Los Blancos will take on Liverpool in the Champions League as the two teams battle for an advantage in the race to finish top-eight.

That momentum will be all-important for the Reds. In fact, another defeat would have sent them into this one at a ridiculous low atmospherically - instead, there's a feeling that Liverpool have found their feet a little.

Still, Real Madrid will present a stern test and it's clear that they're going to Anfield to win. Xabi Alonso, who returns to Liverpool with a new team this season, has hinted at a very strong XI.

Liverpool vs Real Madrid

Real Madrid also warmed up for this one with a win. They smashed Valencia 4-0 at home, with Kylian Mbappe scoring twice, Jude Bellingham adding another, with Alvaro Carreras scoring a beautiful fourth.

Notable, though, was how Alonso handled his substitutions. He took off Dean Huijsen, Aurelian Tchouameni, Arda Guler, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr in the 4-0 win.

Trent Alexander-Arnold didn’t feature, which does throw his potential return into doubt. Reports suggested he wanted to use the Valencia game as a warm-up as he comes back from injury.

Instead, that warm-up would need to come at Anfield - which feels like a risk given the inevitable intensity he’s going to face.

What’s clear, though, is that Alonso wanted to have his stars as fresh as possible. That’s in complete contrast to Arne Slot, who made just one substitution in the win over Villa.

Two completely different ideas from the head coaches, then. Alonso wanted freshness, Slot wanted momentum. We’ll see which was the right idea on Tuesday.

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