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Liverpool v Real Madrid: Anfield is special, but team is not says Graeme Souness

Sky Sports expert also previews Anderlecht v Arsenal

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 07:  General View of the Kop prior to the Barclays Premier League match between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield on D
Image: The Kop: can the fans inspire a misfiring Liverpool team?

Sky Sports brings you a very special match on Wednesday evening as Liverpool host European champions Real Madrid at Anfield. Graeme Souness tells us about his concerns over the current team, as well as looking ahead to Arsenal’s trip to Anderlecht…

Liverpool v Real Madrid, 6pm, Wednesday, Sky Sports 5

Anfield is a unique place to play on European nights.

From the moment the Kop sings ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, the general atmosphere is, for me, certainly the best one in England and in my experience is up there with the ones created by Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Glasgow Rangers and Celtic. They are very, very special places on European nights.

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I really hope that the crowd can push the team on because they are misfiring and are nothing like they were last year. They got very, very lucky to beat QPR at the weekend and will need to play a lot better than that to beat Real Madrid.

The obvious reason for it is the absence of Luis Suarez. People make the direct comparison and take away his goals, but the biggest thing he gave them apart from that was that he was infectious. He made other people run around with enthusiasm.

There are few players that make other people play and he was one of them. They look a shadow of the team they had with him in it. I don’t think anybody is looking at Mario Balotelli and thinking ‘I’m going to work as hard as him’.

More from Liverpool V Real Madrid

Real Madrid are a very good team, but I don’t think they are a special team that will dominate European football for the next few years. I don’t think they will defend the Champions League and they’ll need to enjoy a great deal of luck if they are to do so.

The absence of Gareth Bale is a blow and even when he is available, you’d have to say there are frailties in that side.

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An in-form Fernando Torres steered Liverpool to a 4-0 win over Real Madrid back in 2009.

However, I think they will make it a hard night for Liverpool. When you play at home in European football, you’ve got to come up with a happy balance where you get on the front foot and try to win it without leaving yourself vulnerable.

When you’re pushing up and you leave a gap between your last defender and your goalkeeper, it’s tailor-made for Cristiano Ronaldo with the pace he has and the accuracy of the passing in their team. Real Madrid are a team that’s set-up to play counter-attacking football, as well as being able to dominate the ball when they get on the front foot.

People always have game plans to take care of Ronaldo, but very few people succeed in keeping him quiet for 90 minutes.

Anderlecht v Arsenal, 7.30pm, Wednesday, Sky Sports 1

This is a good game for Arsenal, who are another misfiring team right now.

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Belgian football is not very strong and they should be able to go there, put in a good performance, score a few goals and hopefully kick-start their season.

To put it simply, they’ve not been good enough in the Premier League and I’d written them off even before the title race started. At times in their home games they look like the Barcelona of four years ago at their very best – but against the big teams they roll over.

Right now they are not even beating the smaller teams at the Emirates so it’s worrying for them. It goes without saying that they should have bought at least one more defender over the summer.

Providing they can put a decent team on the pitch with some of their better defenders on there then they should be able to go to Belgium and get a result.

Of course, in every game you play you will have to defend at some point. If they can do that then maybe they can get their season going.

Graeme Souness will be live at Anfield alongside Jeff Stelling, Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp from 6pm on Sky Sports 5 for Liverpool v Real Madrid, while Anderlecht v Arsenal is on Sky Sports 1 from 7.30pm.

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