Jürgen Klopp’s men will be in pot three for Thursday’s Champions League draw
Liverpool are facing a potential group of death in the Champions League group stage draw.
Despite reaching the final of last season’s competition, the Reds’ position in pot three was confirmed on Wednesday night by Benfica’s comfortable 4-1 second-leg qualifier win over PAOK. Had the Greek side progressed, Liverpool would have been assigned to a more favourable place in pot two of the draw.
Liverpool would have faced one of the teams from pot one – made up of the champions of the continent’s top leagues and the winners of last season’s Champions League and Europa League – regardless of what happened on Wednesday night. However, Benfica’s victory means they will now have to take on one of the pot two sides in the group stage as well, with tricky opponents such as Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma all possibilities.
Pot One
Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Lokomotiv Moscow
Pot Two
Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli, Tottenham, Roma
Pot Three
Liverpool, Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, CSKA Moscow, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia
Pot Four
Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Inter Milan, Hoffenheim, Crvena Zvezda, AEK Athens
Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur join Liverpool in draw for the Champions League group stage.
City are in pot one having won the Premier League title last season, while United and Tottenham are in pot two. No teams from the same country can face each other in the group stages of the competition.
