Champions League group stage draw: When is it and who could Liverpool face?
Liverpool now know all the teams they can be drawn against in this season’s Champions League group stages when the draw is made on Thursday afternoon.
Wednesday night saw the final qualifiers take place, meaning all the four pots are now confirmed, with Liverpool seeded in Pot 1 of course after winning the Premier League last season.
Jurgen Klopp‘s side are seeded alongside Bayern Munich, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Juventus, Paris Saint Germain, Zenit St Petersburg and Porto – meaning they cannot face any of those in the group stages.
But there are some big teams in Pot 2 who the Reds can face, with one of Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax or Shakhtar Donetsk to be drawn.
Fellow English sides Man City, Man United and Chelsea are also in Pot 2 but cannot be drawn at the group stages.
RB Leipzig, Inter Milan, Atalanta and Olympiakos are among the sides in Pot 3, while Club Brugge, Borussia Monchengladbach and Istanbul Basaksehir are all in Pot 4.
Champions League Group Stage Pots
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Pot 1: Bayern Munich, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Juventus, PSG, Zenit, Porto
Pot 2: Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Shakhtar, Dortmund, Ajax, Chelsea*, Man City*, Man United*
Pot 3: Dynamo Kyiv, RB Leipzig, Inter, Olympiakos, Lazio, Atalanta, Salzburg, Krasnodar
Pot 4: Club Brugge, Gladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Rennes, Ferencvaros, Midjylland, Lokomotiv Moscow, Marseille
* Cannot be drawn in Champions League group stage.
The draw will be held at UEFA’s headquarters in Geneva at 4pm (BST) on Thursday afternoon, and will be broadcast live on UEFA.com.
Liverpool’s first group game will be held on October 20/21, with the schedule for the group stage as follows.
Champions League Schedule
Matchday One: October 20/21
Matchday Two: October 27/28
Matchday Three: November 3/4
Matchday Four: November 24/25
Matchday Five: December 1/2
Matchday Six: December 8/9
The Champions League final is set to be held at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul on May 29, 2021, with Liverpool eyeing their seventh European Cup.
