UCL Group stage Draw

The draw for the opening phase of the tournament proper is to take place in Istanbul from 5pm BST, setting up the eight groups of four teams.

Based on their UEFA coefficient, the Reds will be in Pot 2 for the draw and know they will face one of Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Lille, Sporting CP or Villarreal from Pot 1.

Potential opponents from Pot 3 and Pot 4 will be confirmed following the conclusion of the play-off round on Wednesday night.

At this stage, Liverpool cannot face a fellow Premier League club.

The first matchday of the group stage is set for September 14/15, with further fixtures on September 28/29, October 19/20, November 2/3, November 23/24 and December 7/8.

The perfect draw in terms of ease of opponent and travel distance:

Sporting
Ajax
Brugge/Malmö

Zenit might be a good out from pot 3 as well but that's a long and cold away trip in November/December. Ajax would be a fun team to play against again and I'm sure fans would enjoy Amsterdam now that travelling is on again.

Pot 1: Lille ; they are struggling this season after their manager left.
Pot 3: Ajax ; not the weakest team but they love to play football, which would suit us.
Pot 4: Sheriff Tiraspol* ; with all due respect, they seem to be by far the weakest team in the competition.

Bonus: Lille and Amsterdam are short trips.

*not through yet, but they won the first leg against Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 and it's 0-0 at HT.

Now that the pots are confirmed there doesn't seem to be any nightmare scenarios for us, at least in the group stage.

Ideally we'd avoid the likes of Bayern, Atletico, and Inter from Pot 1, but even if we draw one of them we should be fine as there doesn't appear to be an awkward 'Napoli' sort of side in Pot 3 to mess things up. Porto and Leipzig are possibly the biggest threats in Pot 3 but we've had no problem dispatching them in recent years so there's nothing to fear there.

The real danger with a draw like this where Pot 2 is stronger than Pot 1 is that there could be several groups with two strong teams, thereby increasing the chances that we may have to face a big team in the Round of 16 if we reach it.

For example it's possible that we could see these groups:

Chelsea/Real Madrid
Atletico/Juventus
Bayern/United
Man City/Barcelona
Inter/PSG

Villareal/Dortmund
Lille/Liverpool
Sporting/Sevilla

If we win our group in that scenario we'd be facing a high probability of facing one of Real/Atletico/Juventus/Bayern/Barcelona/Inter/PSG/Dortmund in the Round of 16, and only a very small chance of facing one of Villareal/Sporting/Sevilla.

A possible group of European royalty:

Bayern
Liverpool
Ajax
AC Milan

That would be a really fun group to watch.

Pot 1

Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid
Villarreal
Inter Milan
Sporting CP
Lille

Pot 3

Porto
Ajax
RB Leipzig
Benfica
Atalanta
Zenit St Petersburg
Shakhtar Donetsk
Salzburg

Pot 4

Club Brugge
Young Boys
AC Milan
Malmo
Wolfsburg
Besiktas
Dynamo Kiev
Sheriff Tiraspol

Best will be Lille, us, Salzburg and Sheriff.

Best draw would be Lille, Salzburg and Sheriff.

Prediction is Inter, Zenit and Malmo

Best draw would be Lille, Salzburg and Sheriff.

Prediction is Inter, Zenit and Malmo

All i know for sure is Man City will get Sheriff.

All i know for sure is Man City will get Sheriff.

Then get Sporting Lisbon second round, Ajax quarters and Lile semis (if they get that far).

I've never seen a team have a more consistent easy route than those lot and they still mess it up.

Honestly only team Id like to avoid is Bayern

Only team I want to avoid is Atletico

Uefa sure know how to drag things out don't they

What the F**k is this draw so far... feels like I'm watching the Eurovision.

Tell you what, there isn't many teams in any pot that I fear too much....

Damn, Dortmund drawn against Sporting, was hoping we'd be in that group

Real getting Inter is good though.

Damn we got Atletico in our group

Atletico, f***

The one team I didn’t want us to get.

Wish they’d got someone else instead of Ivanovic to do the draw, looks like an emotionally awkward robot.

People will undoubtedly be happy with City drawing PSG, but that creates a potential nightmare fixture in the Round of 16. If we and City win the group we could be drawn against PSG.

Same goes with Bayern/Barcelona.

That Lille/Sevilla group is so poor

Messi vs Ronaldo again earlier than we thought in the battle of the oil clubs, just need City to confirm Ronaldo now.

Time for revenge on Atletico.

People will undoubtedly be happy with City drawing PSG, but that creates a potential nightmare fixture in the Round of 16. If we and City win the group we could be drawn against PSG.

Same goes with Bayern/Barcelona.

That Lille/Sevilla group is so poor

I’d be more concerned playing Sevilla than I would Barca.
But let’s qualify before worrying about who we may or may not get in the next round.

Glad we avoided Leipzig. City looks like a very tough group

We're getting Porto or Ajax. Interesting draw either way

Some nice destinations for the travelling fans at least.

Porto....

Hmmmmmm.....

https://twitter.com/IanDoyleSport/status/1430938925212782602?s=20

Glad we avoided Young Boys so we don't have to put up with an endless barrage of pedo jokes

United got a decent draw.

Knew Milan was going to be in our group.

Not gonna lie, I'm buzzing with that, what a sexy group! Not one bad game there and three beautiful cities.

F***.

Atletico, Porto, AC Milan.

Tricky group, could have been considerably easier. Should be fun games though.

We owe Atletico one for last year, and AC Milan for Athens.

Hardest group by a mile

Great group travelling wise but could be tricky although confident we will get through

Comfortable qualification coming up for Chavs and Juve. United got a comfortable group too.

As fans of course we wanted easier, but if I was a player, I'm sure playing against three clubs of that standard just pumps you up even more. I'm not worried and just excited.

Hardest group by a mile

The PSG/Napoli group a couple of years ago was tougher.

AC Milan aren't the 2005 iteration with Kaka, Pirlo, etc.

Group G is a complete joke. Really should have been one of our group teams at least in that group.

As fans of course we wanted easier, but if I was a player, I'm sure playing against three clubs of that standard just pumps you up even more. I'm not worried and just excited.

Playing teams who are known entities and that play attacking football should help us. Drawing a minnow doesn't necessarily guarantee 6 points, as we saw when we lost against Red Star Belgrade who were supposed to be the whipping boys in the PSG/Napoli/Red Star group.

Group G is a complete joke. Really should have been one of our group teams at least in that group.

Yeah, swap one of us or Atletico with anyone in that group and it would be more balanced for sure.

United got a decent draw.

Very happy. 

Very happy. 

Atlanta will be a big hurdle for you though, one of the teams I’m glad we avoided.

Buzzing with that draw! Eager to see so many battles.. De Paul vs Fabinho.. Zlatan vs Virg.. Otavio vs Robbo.. our front-3 vs that defence of Atletico!

Tough group that

Group of death.

Atletico are Spanish champions. They're very hard to beat. The others can be beaten

Pretty rough that.

Feel the decision to put the champions in Pot 1 irrespective of co-efficient has led to the groups being a bit all over the place. Two or three of them look far too weak.

Groups F and G look a bit daft but the rest all look quite competitive.

Pretty rough that.

Feel the decision to put the champions in Pot 1 irrespective of co-efficient has led to the groups being a bit all over the place. Two or three of them look far too weak.

Uefa love that though, as this sort of group draw gives them a lot more big games to boost TV viewership than what would happen if you simply sorted teams into pots by coefficient.

Group of death.

Atletico are Spanish champions. They're very hard to beat. The others can be beaten

Chelsea beat them convincingly last season

I like our group, easily the best team in it. We were beating Atletico handily before those flash out of the blue goals. I'd rather be us than City, or Chelsea. PSG might wipe the floor with everyone and Juventus would be a tough game for us.

"There are 15 Champions League titles in Group B. None in Group A."

 

Group A is so plastic 

Tough group, no doubt, we'll need to be on our game.

All fairly decent opposition who we will have to treat with respect to earn a result but we have avoided some of the bigger guns who I would be more concerned about. I hope we absolutely smash Atletico to kingdom come.

Hardest group by a mile

Yeah, and yet I still see us as favorites. 

I can't wait to pay back Atletico for 2 seasons ago, and it will be even sweeter to beat them with Suarez in the side. 

The Milan matches will obviously bring back memories of Istanbul. 

We have a recent history of thumping Porto in this competition. 

Can't wait for these to begin!!!

Are Man Utd to face any professional teams?  What an easy group they got!!

Are Man Utd to face any professional teams?  What an easy group they got!!

Makes a change, next thing is you'll be saying we're like City and get easy rounds. 

Tough group hopefully we start with a 3 pointer or it could go right to the last game!

3 teams in our group trying to figure how they navigate past us..

No fear…

Chelsea beat them convincingly last season

Styles make fights and they're all wrong for us, as seen previously against them. Low block defending rolling around

I love getting a group like this to be honest.

What it's all about really.

F**k off, that is a horrible group

Could have been better but I s back us to qualify

Not sure it’s as bad as it looks - the clubs are big names but not as good as they used to be

"There are 15 Champions League titles in Group B. None in Group A."

 

Group A is so plastic 

Brugge (my 'home team' btw) is pretty much the only team of the group with some European pedigree. They're gonna get spanked though.


Milan, Atletico and Porto is a very tricky group. But all the teams can take points from each other, so that should help us.

I would back us to qualify, especially with the fans behind the players at Anfield. Great to see those special European nights back !

Milan has potential to be tricky but think it’s more who they are that makes them seem a worse draw to have than what they actually are. They are a long way off the level they used to be and they are nowhere near the quality of us or Atletico. They’ve lost Donnarumma and their biggest threat is an increasingly injury prone 39yr old.

But it’s football, and anything can happen.

Group little tougher then it could of been but AC Milan certainly isn't anything close to the team of 10-15 years ago. Not a bad side but if we can play somewhat to our ability I don't think they can match us. Porto is a side which we seem to have their number under Klopp and I would love to get some revenge on Athletico. Should be a fun group and look forward to he challenge

F**k sake. Woke up to that F***ing Draw and then saw United's...get the F**k out. How much did they pay this time?

Luis coming back to Anfield again. Wonder what the reception will be like after his antics when he came to town last time?

I personally still love the Mad c**t.

Gonna be tough but I see us F***ing topping that group with any luck!

Looking forward to some good matches.

Watch out for Porto's Marko Grujic.
 

F**k sake. Woke up to that f**king Draw and then saw United's...get the f**k out. How much did they pay this time?

Luis coming back to Anfield again. Wonder what the reception will be like after his antics when he came to town last time?

I personally still love the Mad C**t.

Gonna be tough but I see us f**king topping that group with any luck!

Ning Ning F***ing Ning, do you ever stop moaning.    You have to be mad if you'd still support a snake that sh*t on your club and KK.

Ning Ning f**king Ning, do you ever stop moaning.    You have to be mad if you'd still support a snake that sh*t on your club and KK.

He's F***ing Luis Suarez.

I haven't seen anyone score the goals he did for us.

He had me truly gobsmacked with his utter brilliance on the pitch!

He's f**king Luis Suarez.

I haven't seen anyone score the goals he did for us.

He had me truly gobsmacked with his utter brilliance on the pitch!

He's still a snake, in the same bracket as Tevez. sh*t on your club yet you still like him. Explains why you  that sh*t 

We have a huge chance if we stay injury free. We can challenge anyone in our day.

Are Man Utd to face any professional teams?  What an easy group they got!!

Only the victors of the Europa League, Villareal. I can't remember which amateur outfit they beat to win the trophy!!

Only the victors of the Europa League, Villareal. I can't remember which amateur outfit they beat to win the trophy!!

Don't know if you're serious, but it was United... So yeah, amateur outfit!!! 

Don't know if you're serious, but it was United... So yeah, amateur outfit!!! 

I'm not, I'm being a sarcastic c**t for our resident manc.

I love getting a group like this to be honest.

What it's all about really.

Absolutely right,
Now I don’t know about anyone else but I’m betting that all of those club’s players fans etc all said ‘Oh F**k’ we gotta play Liverpool, but not only that, play at Anfield with those fans behind them,

I’m quite happy with that draw, it’s a fantastic opportunity to once again show our European pedigree, to be the best you got to beat the best and that suits us to a tee, bring it on I say, with our history in this competition we should fear no one, but they will most certainly fear us !!



                                                                            Y  N  W  A

Pretty pleased with the CL schedule.

First of all we start at home which gives us a good chance of starting the group off on the right foot. We face Atletico in the back-to-back with the first game being on October 19th by which time the team should be up and running properly.

LIV - MIL
ATM - POR

POR - LIV
MIL - ATM

ATM - LIV
POR - MIL

LIV - ATM
MIL - POR

LIV - POR
ATM - MIL

MIL - LIV
POR - ATM

In terms of fixtures around the CL games it looks good too. It's good that we play other teams involved in Europe on the back of our CL games 3 times, including City after Porto away, United after Atletico away, and West Ham after Atletico home. Teams who don't play in Europe would have a full week to prepare for games against us so wouldn't be ideal.

It's also noteworthy that Man City will play Chelsea away and PSG away right before coming to Anfield, which shapes up to be a pretty tough week for them. In contrast we have Brentford away and Porto away which may offer some opportunity for rotation.

The 3 gameweeks where we don't play teams involved in European competition after the midweek CL games are when we play Palace (H), Southampton (H), and Villa (H), all of which are home games, thus minimizing travel disruption. These 3 games are all very winnable against bottom half sides too which is ideal for squad rotation. Those teams will have a full week to prepare for us, but we should still have enough strength to see them off at Anfield even with some rotation.

Leeds (A) Sun 12 Sept
AC MILAN (H) September 15
Palace (H) Sat 18 Sept

Brentford (A) Sat 25 Sept
PORTO (A) September 28
Man City (H) Sun 3 Oct

Watford (A) Sat 16 Oct
ATLETICO (A) October 19
Man United (A) Sun 24 Oct

Brighton (H) Sat 30 Oct
ATLETICO (H) November 3
West Ham (A) TBC 5/6 Nov

Arsenal (H) TBC 20/21 Nov
PORTO (H) November 24
Southampton (H) TBC 27/28 Nov

Wolves (A) TBC 4/5 Dec
AC MILAN (A) December 7
Villa (H) TBC 11/12 Dec