Champions League Liverpool has been confirmed as Man City’s nightmare unfolds

After a one-year absence, Liverpool are back in the Champions League.

The Reds finished a disappointing fifth last season, recovering to qualify for the Europa League after looking unlikely to even finish in the European places. As a result, it was the first time Jurgen Klopp had failed to lead his side in Europe’s elite club competition since his first year at the club in 2015/16.

With expectations for the 2023/24 campaign lowered, Liverpool headed into the new season hoping to reclaim at least a place in the Champions League. And with the tournament being revamped in 2024/25, opening up the possibility of five English teams qualifying, a battle for such a place was probably anticipated.

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Instead, the Reds have found themselves in a Premier League title race for most of the campaign, only for a recent slump in form to see them slump in the final six weeks of the season.

They have at least done enough to qualify for next season’s Champions League, with Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat at Chelsea last week guaranteeing them a place in the top four. With Aston Villa then losing away to Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, ahead of Liverpool’s own visit to Spurs, a top-three finish was secured before a ball was even kicked.

With Premier League sides not doing enough in Europe this season to secure a fifth Champions League qualification spot, losing in Serie A and the Bundesliga, it’s just as well that Klopp’s men have done enough to qualify on its own merits.

But while Liverpool will head into the 2024/25 Champions League campaign not as champions of England, barring the most unlikely set of results in the final two weeks of the Premier League season, not as holders of the Europa League after suffered a quarter-final exit at Atalanta. , and not having competed in the tournament the year before, will still be seeded next season.

In the past, the 32 teams competing in the Champions League group stage were divided into four pots of eight. The reigning European champions and holders of the Europa League would occupy two places in pot one along with the domestic champions from the six highest-ranked nations in UEFA coefficients.

If a team that won the Champions League or Europa League was also national champion, then the seventh nation champion would also occupy a place in pot one. The remaining 24 teams will be allocated the pot based on their UEFA coefficients based on recent history in European competition.

Liverpool would not be eligible for a place in Pot 1 next season as a result of such rules. But the revamped Champions League changes things, meaning the Reds could indeed end up in a bigger pot than the eventual Premier League champions.

From next season, 36 clubs will participate in the Champions League and all will compete under the same league table. For the league stage draw to decide the fixtures, the teams are still sorted into four pots, with nine sides filling each.

But Pot 1 will now be made up of the current Champions League winners and the eight teams that are highest in the UEFA club rankings. Therefore, the domestic champions and holders of the Europa League were no longer guaranteed a place in the first pot.

Consequently, even if Arsenal were to win the Premier League this season, Liverpool would still be in pot one ahead of them thanks to a superior recent record in Europe.

Man City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan are already there guaranteed places in pot one next season as a result, alongside the Reds – who are currently in fifth place with 114 points in the standings.

However, being a top seed is no longer the advantage it once was. Previously, it would have ensured an “easier” draw, with the sides facing off from part of pot two, pot three and pot four, facing all three both home and away.

But in the revamped format, teams will now play eight group games against eight different teams (four home and four away), with two coming from each of the four pots. As a result, the clubs will face two sides from the same pot.

While clubs will in most cases avoid teams from the same nation, leagues with four or more clubs could end up playing a match against another team from the same country. As a result, it is plausible that Man City will be one of the two sides Liverpool face next season.

The Reds could also be drawn against Arsenal (or Aston Villa/Tottenham Hotspur, depending on who finishes fourth) in next season’s group stages, in what would be a nightmare scenario for Premier League sides .