Thierry Henry explains why Liverpool are not one of his Champions League favourites

Liverpool sealed a 3-2 win against Atletico Madrid in their Champions League opener (Getty)

Thierry Henry believes Liverpool will struggle to win the Champions League this season due to their defensive frailties.

Arne Slot’s side threw away a two-goal lead in their Champions League opener on Wednesday night and needed an injury-time winner from Virgil van Dijk to secure a 3-2 victory at home to Atletico Madrid.

In the Premier League, Liverpool have recorded back-to-back clean sheets against Burnley and Arsenal but conceded twice in both of their games against Newcastle United and Bournemouth.

Despite getting off to a winning start at Anfield, Henry admits he is uncertain over Liverpool’s Champions League hopes this season and says the Premier League champions must improve at the back.

‘Liverpool… I don’t know, Jamie [Carragher] said it, I do think from already pre-season they concede too many goals, they need to erase that,’ Henry told CBS Sports.

‘They got bailed out again the other day against Burnley and you have to find a way to win games, so we’re not complaining about that.

‘But in the Champions League, if you concede too many goals it’s a tough one to win.’

Thierry Henry believes Liverpool will struggle to win the Champions League if they do not improve defensively (Getty)

Speaking after Liverpool’s last-gasp win against Atletico Madrid, Slot indicated that his side will need to tighten up defensively.

‘I think one of the things you need to have if you want to compete for the Premier League and the cups and the Champions League is mentality and fitness,’ Slot said.

‘But you also need quality and I think that’s also what we saw tonight. Maybe I am even a bit disappointed that we scored in the last minute – I know that’s going to be your headline and it’s going to be great to score a late game winner, but I would have liked it more if we would have spoken about, ‘Did you see the few attacks we had before half-time when Florian [Wirtz] and Alex combined together, which led to almost Jeremie [Frimpong] scoring, or second half a great attack with Dominik and Flo and Mo that ended up on the post.’ I can come up with so many great attacks we had today but probably no one is talking about that.

‘Everybody will probably talk again about the late game winner, which I understand because that is the story of this game and the story of the last five games.

‘But for me it was a different game than the ones we have played before. So I saw many good things but it is not for the first time that we give away a 2-0 lead as well, which was different to the one we gave aways against Bournemouth because this one had nothing to do with counter-attacks.

‘But we did give away a 2-0 lead which is not what we were known for last season. So yes, there is a lot to improve but there is a lot to like as well.’

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