Liverpool's best chance of beating Real Madrid in 15 years?

Back in March 2009 Liverpool enjoyed an unforgettable night as they thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

But that memorable moment was the last time the Reds beat the Spanish giants, failing to win any of the last eight matches between the two - a winless run stretching across 15 years.

But on Wednesday, Liverpool welcome Real Madrid to Anfield in what they may feel is their best chance to finally end that long run without a victory and continue Arne Slot's impressive start.

As far as transitions into a new era go, Liverpool's from Jurgen Klopp to Slot could hardly have gone any better.

The Dutchman has them sitting top of the Premier League, while they started this week top of the pile in the Champions League as well.

They have won all four of their games so far in Europe, scoring 10 goals and conceding just one.

That is in contrast to the start to Real Madrid's campaign in both La Liga and the Champions League.

Carlo Ancelotti's side won both competitions last season but they are second in their domestic table and started the week 18th in the league phase of the Champions League.

Three of their four games in Europe so far have been at home, where they have convincingly beaten Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund but lost 3-1 to AC Milan in their most recent fixture. Encouragingly for Liverpool is that their only away game so far was at Lille, who won 1-0.

Real Madrid, of course, made a big statement summer signing with the arrival of France star Kylian Mbappe.

The striker brought to an end a six-year stay at Paris St-Germain where he boasted an incredible record of 256 goals in just 308 appearances across all competitions.

At Real he has a respectable record of eight goals in 16 games, including one in La Liga on Sunday, but just one of those goals has come in the Champions League - the 3-1 win against Stuttgart on 17 September.

Since then he has faced Lille, Dortmund and Milan without scoring and also drew a blank in the first El Clasico of the season, which Barcelona won 4-0.

Part of Mbappe's struggles can be attributed to the position he is being asked to play.

At PSG he was mostly deployed on the left but at Real he is mainly deployed as a central striker.

"I don't think he's enjoying what he has to do but he has to do it," Spanish football expert Guillem Balague said on BBC Radio 5 Live's Euro Leagues podcast.

"He's gone from every time he makes a run in behind at PSG he got the ball, to now convince his team-mates he's the guy who needs to be given the ball - and it hasn’t happened yet.

"You've got the talent but the click hasn't arrived."

One of the reasons Mbappe is not playing in his preferred position is so Ancelotti can deploy Vinicius Jr on the left and Jude Bellingham on the right.

Bellingham, like Mbappe, is struggling to produce the sort of form he is capable of and in 13 games across all competitions this season he has managed just two goals.

Those two strikes have come in his last two games, suggesting he could be finding his form after a slow start to the season, which had already been disrupted by injury.

But it is in stark contrast to his incredible start to his debut campaign at Real last year, when he hit 11 goals in his first 12 appearances for the club.

"At the moment Jude Bellingham is doing a lot of defensive and offensive work," said European football expert Mina Rzouki.

"There needs to be a better balance in midfield."

But while Bellingham and Mbappe are yet to find their best form, Vinicius Jr has been flying this season.

The Brazil forward has scored 12 goals in 16 appearances, including a hat-trick in a 4-0 win against Osasuna on 9 November.

And Liverpool fans will be relieved to see he is out of Wednesday's game with a hamstring injury because they won't forget his performance at Anfield last year, when he sparked a Real Madrid comeback from two goals down with the first two strikes in a 5-2 win.

In total he has scored five goals against the Reds and four in this Champions League campaign already, making him a huge loss for Real.

After the damaging back-to-back defeats by first Barcelona and then AC Milan, it appeared Real Madrid were considering their options.

Reports, external linked the club's former midfielder Xabi Alonso with a return to the club, albeit after he continued to manage Bayer Leverkusen until the end of the current season.

It was also claimed, external the club's hierarchy held a meeting after the Milan loss and subsequently decided to stick with him for the time being.

Ancelotti himself said on 8 November that he believed he had solved the problems that had hampered Real's start to the season.

"We have evaluated the situation with the players," he said.

"We think we have found the solution. But we need to put that into practice. That is what we are hoping to do, to play differently."

Back-to-back wins followed those comments, perhaps suggesting the problems have been fixed.

Extending their unbeaten run against Liverpool on Wednesday would also go a long way towards confirming that.