Liverpool team news v Villarreal: Nyoni and Ngumoha start, Isak and Wirtz benched among 6 changes

Liverpool seek to make it three wins out of three in this season’s Champions League as they play host to Villarreal at Anfield tonight.

The Reds have already won at home to Spanish opposition in the tournament, beating Atletico Madrid six weeks ago, and they followed that up with an eventful 6-3 thumping of LASK in Austria last week.

The 2-1 victory at Brentford on Saturday came at a cost, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Jeremie Frimpong both going off injured in west London, and the latter isn’t set to return until after the November international window.

There’ll be some enforced changes to the starting line-up for Liverpool, then, and Andoni Iraola has now confirmed his XI for the visit of Villarreal.

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Liverpool starting XI to face Villarreal

Iraola has made six changes to the team which began the win at Brentford, with the Basque springing a few surprises.

Alisson Becker continues in goal, with one change in defence as Kostas Tsimikas starts a second consecutive Champions League fixture in place of Milos Kerkez.

There are two changes in midfield as Ryan Gravenberch and Trey Nyoni come in for Florian Wirtz and the injured Szoboszlai. A heavily rotated attack sees Lewis Koumas lead the line, with Rio Ngumoha and the returning Cody Gakpo on the wings.

The substitutes’ bench is a peculiar mixture of three £100m+ signings (Bradley Barcola, Alexander Isak, Wirtz), experienced backup (Freddie Woodman, Joe Gomez) and young talent (Luke Chambers, Jayden Danns, Michael Laffey).

You can view the Liverpool starting XI and substitutes below, via @LFC on X:

Your Reds to take on Villarreal in the #UCL! 🔴💫 pic.twitter.com/tlQNFZVMBv

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 20, 2026