CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW: BEST AND WORST CASE SCENARIO FOR LIVERPOOL

The UEFA Champions League group stage draw takes place in Istanbul tomorrow (4pm GMT). The group stage kicks off on Tuesday, September 6th and concludes on 2nd November.

This year’s group stage will be wrapped up in double quick time (less than two months) as a result of the mid-season FIFA World Cup. Liverpool will be aiming to go one better than last season’s final defeat to Real Madrid.

The Reds of course have very fond memories of Istanbul (the venue for this season’s final). The road to a seventh European Cup starts tomorrow, Jürgen Klopp will be hoping for a relatively straightforward draw.

As usual, there will be eight groups of four teams each drawn from a pool of four pots. Pot 1 comprises of the reigning champions Real Madrid, Europa League winners Frankfurt, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Porto, Ajax and PSG.

Pot 2 is a strong pool of clubs, with Jürgen Klopp’s men joined by the likes of Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, RB Leipzig and Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur.

Pot 3 is tougher than usual this campaign, consisting of the likes of Borussia Dortmund, RB Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter Milan, Sporting Lisbon, Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen.

The final pot, Pot 4, is made up of Scottish champions Celtic, Club Brugge, Marseille, Viktoria Plzen and Maccabi Haifa. The three remaining slots will go to the winners of the qualifiers tonight.

Dinamo Zagreb host Bodo/Glimt hoping to overturn a 1-0 deficit, whilst Rangers travel to PSV Eindhoven after a 2-2 draw at Ibrox last week. Elsewhere, Trabzonspor host FC Copenhagen after losing 2-1 in the first leg.

Best Case Scenario

Frankfurt
Liverpool
Sporting Lisbon
Viktoria Plzen

With the group stages kicking off in just a fortnight, the Reds could use an ‘easier’ group as they attempt to overcome what has been their worst ever start to a season under Jürgen Klopp’s tenure.

This group would be just that, with all due respect to Frankfurt, Portuguese side Sporting, and minnows Viktoria Plzen. The Europa League winners haven’t started the season in great form themselves, drawing both games so far.

A crucial advantage in this unique season could be winning the Champions League group early and resting a number of key players for a couple of games. That could make a difference in the league games around these fixtures.

Worst case scenario

Bayern Munich
Liverpool
Inter Milan
Marseille

In what is arguably the worst possible outcome, there could be a swift and unwanted reunion with Sadio Mané’s Bayern Munich (it still feels weird to type that). Inter Milan would pose a threat as well, as they showed at Anfield last season.

Marseille meanwhile are back in the big time for just the second time in the past nine years. They spent the last campaign in the lower reaches of the Conference League and will be hoping to better their woeful recent record in the competition (14 defeats in the last 15).

Liverpool breezed through a supposed group of death last season, winning all six games. They will be confident of progression no matter who they get drawn against, and regardless of the early season struggles.