Andoni Iraola (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)
Andoni Iraola (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)
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If many inside Anfield will be forgiven for feeling a throbbing sense of deja vu this evening, for one person there will be excitement at the sense of the unknown.
Liverpool and Atletico Madrid lock horns once again this evening having been drawn to face each other in four of the last eight years in the Champions League.
Indeed, the fixture is a repeat of the opening game of last season's competition, which the Reds won 3-2 with a late Virgil van Dijk header having thrown away a two-goal lead.
For Andoni Iraola, though, it is not only a first experience of Anfield under the lights on a Champions League night, but also a debut coaching in the competition.
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"It is one of the dreams when you start," said the Reds boss. "It was difficult for me when I started my coaching career seven or eight years ago to imagine the position I am in right now. I hope I can enjoy it.
"It's a big responsibility and massive challenge but I feel privileged to be there in that dugout.
"Now my thinking is about putting the team together in a position where we can to play a good game, win the game and start strongly in this Champions League."
Liverpool ended their brief wait for a first win under the new head coach when following 2-2 draws against Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest with a solid 2-0 triumph at promoted Ipswich Town last Friday.
"It was first of all about winning as we had this bad taste after two draws and we needed a win, definitely," he said.
"But also I was encouraged because I saw good performances from some individual players, I saw the team starting a lot stronger in the game with a lot more intensity in the first half and that's the line we want to continue."
While the occasion will be new to Iraola, the opposition will not. He faced Atletico Madrid regularly both as a player and head coach in Spain, but failed to beat Diego Simeone's side in four attempts while in charge of Rayo Vallecano.
"Simeone is doing an incredible job as a manager, to be all the years he has been achieving every season the goals of the club, I think it's remarkable," said Iraola. "It's definitely a big challenge for us. He has much more experience than me of these kind of games but I hope we can give him a good game.
"If you look at Simeone's teams, they are starting to have more possession of the ball in the first phase, they build up play, they have lots of dynamism in terms of the four attacking players, so it is difficult to tie them down at times. There is lots of rotation between their players in attacking positions.
"But we need to play our game. We know we are facing a team that are of a very high level as they have shown in previous seasons in the Champions League, but we need to play at our pace.
"We want to be proactive and start well and pressure our opponents early on in the way we played on Friday."
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Having responded at Portman Road to Iraola's demand to begin games more urgently, both Liverpool and their new head coach face a new test with this the first of what the Spaniard hopes are many midweek games.
"This is going to be a challenge I hope all the season because it would mean we would continue in other competitions, and in this case it's not the worst scenario as we played last Friday," he said.
"It's probably going to be more difficult next week because the League Cup game against Spurs we have only three days between games (after Saturday's Premier League visit of Fulham).
"We have to get used to this. It's what big clubs do. I have to consider we have more games, where we are physically.
"There is a part in your mind where you have to think about the next games, but the next game (against Atletico) for us is very important."
Iraola has also repeated his insistence players do not preserve energy in games while reiterating his intention to fully utilise options from the bench and the importance of the full squad.
"It is something that has to be in us, we have to be always as intense as possible because I think we are better like this," he said.
"I don’t want my players to think we have to save energy as we have a hard game in three days or they have to play 90 minutes. You play 55 minutes and you are done and ask for a sub, perfect, as we will have a top level 55 minutes then a top level 35, 40 minutes or whatever remains (from another player).
"If I have to choose, I prefer they are not with a calculator thinking we have to play in three days. Let's push and do our best. The way to get used to playing at a higher rhythm - and we need to increase that rhythm - is pushing and being more demanding."