English football club close to making history in Champions League

FC Liverpool will aim to make it six wins out six in the current Champions League season when they will visit San Siro to face AC Milan on Tuesday night.

Jurgen Klopp's dominant team have already qualified in the next stage of the top competition, while the Rossoneri are involved in a three-way battle for second place in Group B.
Not at their best in Serie A, AC Milan had travelled to the Wanda Metropolitano to face Atletico Madrid on the previous matchday in Group B targeting to avoid being on the wrong end of another 97th minute Luis Suarez penalty.

Considering their dominance on the top European stage has not gone to plan, at least we all witnessed one of the tournament's heart-melting success stories, when ex-delivery driver Junior Messias scored his first goal for the club on his first Champions League appearance to give Milan a crucial 1-0 win.

That victory represents Milan's only win of the current European tournament so far - having recorded three losses and a draw for their opening four games in this challenging group - and after seemingly being ranked last and seeing their exit, the third-placed Rossoneri are now just one point behind second place which is held by FC Porto!

Their fate is kind of out of their own hands, but a victory at home coupled with a Porto-Atletico draw would see Stefano Pioli's men book their place in the last-16 from the European spring stage. Looking like they are back on track as they have secured back-to-back Serie A wins over Genoa and Salernitana ahead of their European battle.

No visitors have been able to keep up a clean sheet on the San Siro this season and there would be no better time for Milan to claim their first Champions League home win since September 2013, especially with Liverpool being already qualified but having in mind they record breaking chance!

However, the Reds still produced a top performance to claim a 2-0 well earned win and maintain their 100% record in group, as Thiago Alcantara scored a peach of a strike before Mohamed Salah came up with his customary goal.

Only Ajax and Bayern Munich can also record a perfect record of five wins out of five games ahead of the final one, but upon their return to domestic action, the Reds were bailed out by last-minute hero Divock Origi in the last knockings of a hard-fought 1-0 win over Wolves in Premier League.

That narrow win ended the Reds' astonishing two-goals-per-game streak - which stood up for 18 games before the trip to Molineux stadium - but they have now won five on the bounce in all tournaments and boast eight goals from their two away games in Group B so far. Liverpool won the 3-2 thriller with AC Milan during September's battle at Anfield, but the 2005 and 2007 finalists have never won in this competition playing on San Siro before.

Milan's attacking players have picked up a lot on injuries in recent weeks, with Olivier Giroud, Samu Castillejo and Ante Rebic being joined in the medical bay by Pietro Pellegri, who came off after 15 minutes against Salernitana with a groin issue. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is therefore sure to lead the attacking line after being rested at the weekend, but Davide Calabria remains out and Simon Kjaer will sadly miss out several months with a devastating ACL injury.

Mike Maignan's recent return is a huge boost, though, and Messias's heroics against Atletico may not be enough to see him edge out Brahim Diaz for this crucial battle.

As for Liverpool, Joe Gomez and Naby Keita are back in training and could potentially return in midweek, but Roberto Firmino, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and the suspended James Milner are all unavailable. There should be opportunities for Tyler Morton and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to start in the middle as Thiago Alcantara enjoys a rest. Ibrahima Konate, Kostas Tsimikas, Neco Williams and Takumi Minamino could also be rotated into the first XI and it would not be a surprise to see Origi - who Klopp joked he would 'write a book about' - lead the attack line!

Should Jurgen Klopp's men prevail at San Siro this week, they will become the first English team in history to win all of their European group-stage games in a single season.
Klopp has affirmed that changes will be made for the game with Milan, as Tyler Morton, Divock Origi and Kostas Tsimikas prepare for possible starts on a potentially record-breaking night.

AC Milan possible starting lineup: Maignan; Kalulu, Tomori, Romagnoli, Hernandez; Kessie, Tonali; Saelemaekers, Diaz, Leao; Ibrahimovic
Liverpool possible starting lineup:
Alisson; Williams, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas; Morton, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Salah, Origi, Minamino

It looks like there is more in the game for AC Milan as with a victory that may or may not be enough for a spot in the knockout rounds, but let’s see if the Reds are motivated enough to become the first english team who wins all their matches in a Champions League group! The fight is on!