It used to be that Milan-Liverpool matches would crown Champions League seasons rather than kick them off, and it’s not the only thing about Tuesday’s meeting that has been upended. The two clubs have consistently been the names directly underneath Real Madrid in the competition’s list of honours since 1990, at which point the Spanish club had six European Cups, with Milan and Liverpool four apiece.

It’s now 15, seven, six. Despite that almost perpetual status as the next greatest clubs on the continent, AC Milan and Liverpool actually only met four times before Tuesday’s fixture at the San Siro. More fittingly, two of those have been Champions League finals, and it was after the last of those that the late Silvio Berlusconi triumphantly came out with the following:

Thursday 19 September

17:45 Feyenoord v Bayer 04 Leverkusen - TNT Sports 2

17:45 FK Crvena Zvezda v SL Benfica - TNT Sports 4

20:00 Atalanta BC v Arsenal FC - TNT Sports 1

20:00 AS Monaco v FC Barcelona - TNT Sports 2

20:00 Atlético de Madrid v RB Leipzig - TNT Sports 4

20:00 Stade Brestois 29 v SK Sturm Graz - TNT Sports 5

Wednesday 18 September

17:45 AC Sparta Praha v FC Salzburg - TNT Sports 6

17:45 Bologna FC 1909 v FC Shakhtar Donetsk - TNT Sports 4

20:00 Celtic FC v ŠK Slovan Bratislava - TNT Sports 2

20:00 Club Brugge KV v Borussia Dortmund - TNT Sports 5

20:00 Manchester City v FC Internazionale Milano - TNT Sports 1

20:00 Paris Saint-Germain v Girona FC - TNT Sports 4

All times UK (BST)

Tuesday 17 September

17:45 BSC Young Boys v Aston Villa FC - TNT Sports 1

17:45 Juventus v PSV Eindhoven - TNT Sports 2

20:00 AC Milan v Liverpool FC - Amazon Prime Video

20:00 FC Bayern München v GNK Dinamo - TNT Sports 2

20:00 Real Madrid C.F. v VfB Stuttgart - TNT Sports 1

20:00 Sporting Clube de Portugal v LOSC Lille - TNT Sports 4

The strategy was partly influenced by the feeling it was getting increasingly difficult to economically compete with the Premier League and state-owned clubs.

Liverpool are playing their first Champions League match after missing out and competing in the Europa League last season. Tonight’s match also marks Arne Slot’s first European game in charge of the Reds.

“It’s a big game, also for me, but a big game for us,” said Slot, “Because of the history these two teams have, the venue it is played in, it is one to look forward to.”

Here’s how we see both teams taking to the pitch at the San Siro tonight:

AC Milan XI: Maignan; Emerson, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Hernandez; Reijnders, Fofana, Loftus-Cheek; Pulisic, Morata, Leao

Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Jones; Salah, Gakpo, Diaz

For Milan, Tammy Abraham scored in the 4-0 win over Venezia at the weekend and could keep his place ahead of Alvaro Morata.

Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Fikayo Tomori are the other former Chelsea men who could feature against the Reds.

Captain Davide Calabria and centre-back Malick Thiaw are both doubts, while Alessandro Florenzi is out, meaning that Emerson Royal continues at full-back,

Federico Chiesa could be involved in the Liverpool squad for the first time since his move from Juventus after he was left out against Nottingham Forest.

The Italy international has been building up his fitness since arriving on deadline day. Arne Slot has not made too many changes in charge so far, but the likes of Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones will be pushing for involvement. Harvey Elliott is out.

AC Milan vs Liverpool will be shown live on Amazon Prime Video, which is available to access on smart TVs or using the Prime Video app. If you’re not an Amazon Prime Video subscriber start a free 30-day trial here.

If you’re travelling abroad and want to watch major sporting events, you might need a VPN to unblock your streaming app. Our VPN round-up is here to help and includes deals on VPNs in the market. Viewers using a VPN need to make sure that they comply with any local regulations where they are, and also with the terms of their service provider.