Michail Antonio claims Liverpool have a player who can do everything, 'he has it all'

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Liverpool are preparing to return to Europe to dominate after their early exit last season.

The Champions League returns next Wednesday with a league phase game against Atletico Madrid pencilled in for the Reds to try and win a seventh title in a competition in which they were made to play.

Anfield will need to be at full volume when they welcome a Madrid side who have found success at their ground, especially when they were victorious in 2020 after knocking Liverpool out 4-2 on aggregate in the Round of 16.

But this is all behind them now, as they are now managed by Arne Slot, who found great success in the competition’s opening phase last season, topping the group and winning all but one of their games.

Photo by Alex Livesey – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

It is a tricky feat to pull off twice, but after a summer transfer haul that brought in a host of the world’s best available talent, including Alexander Isak, there may be no better time to win it.

They fell to a strong Paris Saint-Germain team in two incredibly close encounters before the French side went on to lift the trophy.

If they were to go all the way, it would be their first final since the 2022 defeat to Real Madrid.

The competition is still as close as ever, but Europe’s elites will be wary of the quality of Slot’s team across the park.

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What the side has compared to their domestic rivals or international opposition is an incredible defence led by Virgil van Dijk.

It is no secret that van Dijk is among the greatest in the world, and Michail Antonio has heaped praise on the star during a TNT Sports video.

Asked to make up a combined Champions League XI, using one player per club, the former West Ham star and Julien Laurens settled on the Dutchman, as the striker explained how it was to play against the colossus.

Antonio said: “Virgil is just he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s good on the ball, always 90% of the time he’s going to be in the right place.

“He has it all.

So, I think with him because he has all the attributes, and he’s just that good, and he’s 6’7, it’s just so hard to get around.”

As the Merseyside club’s No.

4 was chosen by the pair, they were not able to fit in the other star player, Mohamed Salah.

But even if he was still on the table, Laurens claimed he would pick the young Barcelona star over the Egyptian despite his consistency.

He said: “You would not pick Salah ahead of Lamine right now in your team.”

Antonio seconded those comments, saying that what Yamal has done in the competition has made him ‘nearly unstoppable’.

The prodigy has indeed been a sensational player to watch in the competition, producing some special moments, but to discount the threat and longevity of Salah in the competition feels unfair to the winger.

But knowing how the ‘Egyptian King’ operates, he will no doubt prove pundits wrong with his performances once he gets up and running on European nights.