Steven Gerrard Talks Real Madrid Ahead of Champions League Clash

Steven Gerrard is adamant that his side can turn their form around to shock Real Madrid when Los Blancos visit Anfield on Wednesday for their Champions League Group B encounter.

The Reds go into the match against the European champions on the back of a fortuitous 3-2 victory over QPR at the weekend in a poor Premier League display, and having lost to Basel last time out in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, Real have won both of their European matches so far this season and crushed Levante 5-0 away in La Liga on Saturday.

But Gerrard insists his side will improve and can return to their form of last season which saw them just lose out on the Premier League title, per the BBC's Ben Smith:

Glaring issues for skipper Gerrard and boss Brendan Rodgers surround Liverpool's leaky defence which has conceded 12 goals in eight Premier League matches this season and looked out of sorts again at Loftus Road, per the Mirror's Oliver Holt:

While Madrid's Gareth Bale is set to miss out on Wednesday's clash, per BBC Sport, the likes of James Rodriguez and Cristiano Ronaldo—who has 15 goals in seven league matches so far this season per WhoScored.com—could terrorise the Reds back line.  

Indeed, Carlo Ancelotti's side is full of superstars, and Gerrard revealed on Tuesday that he could have been one of them having received offers from the Spanish giants, but he turned them down to stay at his beloved Anfield, via Squawka:

While Liverpool claimed an unconvincing 2-1 home win over Ludogorets in their opening group game back in September, they need to get something out of the Real game to avoid falling off the pace.

They are likely playing for the second qualifying place in the group with Basel, but a loss to Los Blancos on Wednesday may well see them drop three points behind the Swiss side.

However, unless the Anfield outfit can shore up their defence, they will struggle to take even a point against a Madrid side who have won seven games on the spin in all competitions scoring a combined 32 goals in those fixtures.

It will be down to Gerrard—veteran of many great European nights—to inspire his side on Wednesday if there is to be any possibility of the Reds claiming a famous win.