Two goals at Anfield were enough for Marcos Llorente’s mother to name her dog after the stadium. His son has since taken his tally there to five, exactly half his Champions League total.
His latest arrived in the 17th minute on September 9, 2026, giving Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid the lead before Liverpool recovered to win 2–1. Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister supplied the response. Llorente left with another goal, but no points.
“During lockdown, I gave a dog to my mum,” Llorente told UEFA in 2022. His mother, who gets nervous watching him play, chose the name to preserve the happiness his original Anfield performance had brought the family. He supplied the dog. She supplied the name.
By early April 2020, Anfield had appeared in one of Llorente’s Instagram Stories. Only weeks had passed since the match behind the name. The later goals would make the association even stronger, but the family already had its reason to remember Liverpool’s stadium.
How Llorente reached 10 Champions League goals
Simeone had taken Atlético to Champions League finals in 2014 and 2016, but the visit on March 11, 2020, demanded another difficult escape. His team arrived with a 1–0 first-leg advantage against the defending European champions. Liverpool erased it through Georginio Wijnaldum’s header, then went ahead in the tie when Roberto Firmino scored early in extra time.
Llorente had replaced Diego Costa in the 56th minute. A midfielder coming on for a striker wasn’t an obvious route to two goals, particularly with Jan Oblak having to make repeated saves at the other end. Yet Llorente became the player who finished the chances Liverpool couldn’t afford to concede.
The first came in the 97th minute after goalkeeper Adrián’s error. At 2–1 to Liverpool on the night and 2–2 on aggregate, Atlético held the qualifying advantage under the away-goals rule then in use. One finish had changed which team needed to chase the tie.
Before the first extra-time interval, Llorente scored again. Liverpool now needed two goals. Instead, Álvaro Morata completed Atlético’s 3–2 victory and 4–2 aggregate win. UEFA’s individual award went to Oblak, whose saves had made the comeback possible, but Llorente had supplied the two finishes that reversed the match.
His third Champions League goal followed at home to Salzburg in October 2020. This time, there was no extra-time emergency: a low left-footed shot from near the edge of the penalty area opened the scoring in a 3–2 win. His European scoring record had finally acquired a second opponent.
Two more goals came in emphatic away victories. At Sparta Prague in November 2024, Llorente sent in a cross that traveled into the net after Alexander Sørloth let it pass without a touch. Atlético won 6–0. At Salzburg in January 2025, he finished a counterattack for the fourth goal of a 4–1 victory.
Then Anfield supplied goals six and seven. On September 17, 2025, Liverpool again built a two-goal lead before Llorente pulled one back just before halftime. His deflected volley in the 81st minute made it 2–2, only for Virgil van Dijk’s stoppage-time header to secure a 3–2 Liverpool win. Another double had brought Atlético back into the match without bringing them a result.
Goal eight was a stoppage-time rebound against Union Saint-Gilloise in November 2025, completing a 3–1 home win. Number nine arrived against Tottenham the following March. Antonín Kinský lost his footing trying to pass from the back. Julián Álvarez recovered the ball and set up Llorente’s sixth-minute finish. Atlético went on to win that home leg 5–2.
His latest Liverpool goal made the distribution unmistakable: five at Anfield, two against Salzburg and one each against Sparta, Union and Tottenham. The stadium occupies half the record, but the results resist a simpler story. Liverpool have won both of his later scoring visits.
The dog’s name belongs to the night Atlético did win. His mother only needed those first two goals.
