Liverpool are preparing for another demanding campaign in the Champions League as the draw approaches, with a host of familiar and intriguing opponents potentially awaiting them across the competition's league phase.
The Reds enter the new season looking to build on last term's showing under previous management, which ended in a quarter-final exit at the hands of eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain. Liverpool had impressed during the earlier stages of the competition, cruising through the league phase by winning six of their eight matches and finishing third overall, behind only Arsenal and Bayern Munich.
As attention turns to the upcoming draw, Liverpool's possible opponents will be determined by UEFA's pot system, which divides teams into four groups based on coefficient rankings. Notably, Manchester United have been slotted into Pot 1 this time around, a reflection of their current standing eighth in UEFA's European club rankings.
Under the draw's format, every club will be matched against eight different opponents, two drawn from each of the four pots. Domestic rivals cannot meet in the league phase, meaning Liverpool are guaranteed not to face Arsenal, Manchester United, Aston Villa or Manchester City at this stage. Additionally, no team can be drawn against more than two clubs from the same association.
From Pot 1, Liverpool could be paired with heavyweights such as Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid. A draw against Inter would carry extra intrigue, given it would reunite Liverpool with former midfielder Curtis Jones, who departed Merseyside for the Nerazzurri earlier this summer.
Moving into Pot 2, potential opponents include Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Porto, Club Brugge, Real Betis and PSV Eindhoven — a mix of clubs with strong European pedigree and tricky tactical profiles.
Pot 3 presents further possibilities, with sides such as Feyenoord, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Galatasaray and either Fenerbahce or Lyon in contention. Shakhtar Donetsk, who continue to play their home European fixtures away from Ukraine — this season at Stamford Bridge — could also emerge from this group.
Pot 4 already has several confirmed participants, including VfB Stuttgart, Como and Lens. They will be joined by the winners of ongoing qualifying ties: Slovan Bratislava or Celje, Levski Sofia or AEK Athens, and Hapoel Be'er Sheva or Sabah.
Several other clubs remain in qualifying limbo and could ultimately land in either Pot 3 or Pot 4 depending on how their ties unfold. Among the sides still to secure their spot are NEC Nijmegen or Bodo/Glimt, Dinamo Zagreb or Viking, Celtic or LASK, and Slavia Prague.
Once the pots are finalized, the league phase itself will unfold across eight matchdays, beginning with Matchday 1 on September 8-10, and continuing through October, November, December and into the new year, with Matchday 7 set for January 19-20 and the campaign's league phase concluding on Matchday 8, January 27.
For Liverpool, the draw will go a long way toward shaping the difficulty of their route back to European glory, with potential reunions, revenge matches and daunting continental tests all on the table depending on how the pots fall.
Based on reporting from standard-football.