Liverpool kick-off their return to the Champions League with a mouthwatering encounter against AC Milan tonight, live on talkSPORT.

These two European giants last met in the group stages of UEFA’s premier competition during the 2021/22 season, with the Reds winning home and away.

Liverpool have fond memories of facing AC MilanGetty

However, both sides still boast major European pedigree and have lifted the Champions League trophy at the expense of the other, with Liverpool coming from 3-0 down in 2005 to beat Milan on penalties.

Two years later, the Serie A giants got their revenge in the 2007 final with a 2-1 win over the Reds.

So, it’s a game steeped in glory, and it’s sure to be a magnificent occasion as Arne Slot begins his first Champions League campaign as Liverpool manager.

Meanwhile, Milan have had a poor start to the season, with just one win from their first four league games.

AC Milan vs Liverpool: Chiesa chomping at the bit

New Liverpool signing Federico Chiesa is fully fit and raring to go after joining from Juventus for a cut-price fee.

The Old Lady were desperate to get rid of the Italian international this summer and accepted an offer worth a potential £12.5 million.

This is quite incredible, given Chiesa was once seen as one of the best wingers in Europe after starring for Italy in their Euro 2020 triumph.

Unfortunately, injuries have somewhat slowed his progress, but he could still turn into an incredible player at Anfield.

He has yet to make his debut, but after being left out of the matchday squad at the weekend, he is expected to be involved here after being included in the travelling squad.

Chiesa has been training with Liverpool and is waiting for his debutGetty

This will be the fifth meeting between Milan and Liverpool in European competition, with half of their previous clashes coming in the UEFA Champions League final (2/4) – 2004-05 (won by Liverpool on penalties) and 2006-07 (won 2-1 by Milan).

Liverpool have won all three of their UEFA Champions League games at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium, winning 1-0 in 2008 and 2-0 in 2022 against Internazionale, and 2-1 against Milan in 2021. The Reds are the only team to play there more than once as a visiting side in the competition while maintaining a 100% record.

Liverpool have won four of their last five away games against Italian sides in European competition (L1), with all five of those coming since 2020. Prior to this, the Reds had only won three of their first 14 such matches away to Italian opposition (D3 L8).

AC Milan vs Liverpool: Date and how to follow

This Champions League encounter is set to take place on Tuesday, September 17.

Kick-off at the San Siro is scheduled for 9pm local time, which is 8pm UK time.

talkSPORT will have live coverage from northern Italy, with Adrian Durham serving as your presenter.

Commentary will come from Jim Proudfoot and former Chelsea defender Scott Minto.

talkSPORT.com will also have updates in our dedicated live Champions League blog.

To tune in to talkSPORT through the website, click HERE for the live stream.

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

Paulo Fonseca is the current AC Milan bossGetty

Milan are unbeaten in their last four games against English sides in the UEFA Champions League (W2 D2), with each of those coming across the previous two seasons (v Spurs and Newcastle). They’ve never previously managed to avoid defeat in five consecutive games against English opponents in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League.

In taking charge of Milan, Paulo Fonseca will be just the second Portuguese to manage an Italian club in the UEFA Champions League, after José Mourinho with Internazionale (2008-2010).

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has lost all three of his away games in the UEFA Champions League, with each of those coming in the group stage with Feyenoord last season (2-3 v Atlético Madrid, 0-1 v Lazio and 1-2 v Celtic). Despite that, Slot’s Feyenoord had the second-best shot differential away from home in last season’s group stage (+19 – 48 for, 29 against), while only Man City (24) faced fewer shots on the road.

AC Milan vs Liverpool: Team news

The hosts have a fair few injury problems to contend with.

Ismael Bennacer, Alessandro Florenzi and Marco Sportiello are all out.

Malick Thiaw has an ankle sprain and is doubtful and Davide Calabria sat out at the weekend due to a leg knock.

But there will likely be three ex-Chelsea players involved, with Tammy Abraham, Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all in line to start.

For the Reds, Chiesa has made the journey to Italy, but Harvey Elliott is out for a while with a fractured foot.

Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez will hope Slot decides to shuffle his front three to give them a start.

Abraham is now leading the line for AC MilanGetty

Milan striker Álvaro Morata was the joint-top scorer in the UEFA Champions League group stage last season, netting five goals in six appearances. Only once in his career has he netted more than five goals in a single campaign in the competition (six for Juventus in 2020-21).

Mohamed Salah has scored 41 goals for Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League; the most ever by a player for an English club in the competition. Since his first season at the club in 2017-18, only Robert Lewandowski (54) and Kylian Mbappé (42) have outscored Salah (41) in the UEFA Champions League.

Across the last two editions of the UEFA Champions League (2022-23 and 2023-24), only Vinícius Júnior (84) and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (64) have completed more dribbles than Milan’s Rafael Leão (57).

Trent Alexander-Arnold has assisted 10 goals for Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League (52 games); already the second-most ever by an English defender, only behind Ashley Cole (12 assists in 108 games).

AC Milan vs Liverpool: What has been said?

Speaking ahead of the game, Slot reflected on the defeat to Nottingham Forest at the weekend.

He said: “For me, and everyone can have their own opinion, it is too simple to put this loss on rotation because I think too many players didn’t reach their normal level.

“That is not only the ones that started but also the ones that came in [off the bench.]

“For me, it had a lot to do with the playing style of the opponent, who made it really difficult for us. But, in the end, if you didn’t win, you try to look at as many arguments as you can find.

“I also ask myself the question, does it have to do with the things you said? But I prefer to look back at the game and see what we did well or didn’t do well.

“I think we could’ve done a lot of things much better that was not related to rotation. We will never know if I rotated three or four players if we would have won that.”