By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-09-10 11:05:50 | Updated at 2026-09-19 12:02:32
1 week ago
He may have ended on the losing side, but Marcos Llorente scored against Liverpool yet again in the UEFA Champions League. How strange is his goalscoring record against the Premier League club?
You could forgive Liverpool fans for being sick of the sight of Marcos Llorente.
The Atlético Madrid star scored once again at Anfield in the UEFA Champions League on Matchday 1 of the 2026-27 campaign, but it was in vain as Liverpool turned the game around to win 2-1 after the Spaniard opened the scoring. It took him to five goals overall against the Reds in the competition.
It was much like last season, when Llorente scored both of Atlético’s goals at Anfield before Liverpool eventually managed to prevail 3-2 thanks to Virgil van Dijk’s winner in added time.
Llorente scored his first two goals against Liverpool in a 3-2 extra-time win at Anfield in the 2019-20 round of 16. His two goals, both in extra-time, helped Atlético progress past Liverpool 4-2 on aggregate.
While Llorente’s goalscoring record against Liverpool is far from an overall UCL record – that’s held by Cristiano Ronaldo (10 vs Juventus) – his goal last night puts him second for the most goals in the competition versus Liverpool specifically.
Only Karim Benzema – seven goals in eight games – has a better record against Liverpool in the competition, while Llorente is level with Vinícius Júnior’s total of five.
Unlike Benzema and Vinícius, however, Llorente isn’t known for his goalscoring prowess, which makes his outstanding record in games against Liverpool even more surprising.
Indeed, of all the players to score 10+ UEFA Champions League goals, Llorente is the only one to score at least 50% against a specific opponent (5/10 vs Liverpool).
Among players with 10+ UCL goals, the others with the highest proportion coming against a single opponent are Sébastien Haller vs Sporting CP (5 of 12 – 41.7%), Anthony Gordon vs Qarabag (4 of 10 – 40%) and Luiz Adriano vs BATE Borisov (8 of 21 – 38.1%).
But all five of Llorente’s goals have come at Anfield, too.
That makes him one of only eight players in Champions League history to have scored 5+ goals against a team at a single away venue, with only Cristiano Ronaldo vs Ajax at the Johan Cruijff ArenA and Robert Lewandowski against Crvena Zvezda at the Rajko Mitic Stadium (both six goals) more prolific.
Llorente’s penchant for scoring against Liverpool is nothing more than a weird quirk, but the statistics comparing him against the Reds and every other opponent combined are entertaining nonetheless.
He’s now tallied five goals in as many UCL games against Liverpool despite attempting only six shots, meaning he’s converted 83% of his shots into goals against them.
In 54 Champions League games against every other opponent combined, he’s scored five goals from 44 shots – an 11% conversion rate.
With UEFA implementing a new rule earlier this season that prevents opponents from playing one another in three consecutive UCL league-phase campaigns, Liverpool might be saved from facing Llorente next season, but they may well be hoping they don’t meet Atlético in the knockout stages this season.
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