The UEFA Champions League league phase draw is fast approaching. The draw ceremony will take place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday evening, scheduled to start around 6:30pm (local time) and, as always, there are plenty of permutations.
Supporters will be familiar with most of these, such as the fact Liverpool are unable to face another Premier League side. Meantime this is the third season of the revamped league phase which, at first, appeared complicated, but we are all getting used to it, right?
Well, a newly-introduced, lesser-known UEFA rule has eliminated the possibility of one fixture for Andoni Iraola's side, as we will attempt to explain.
Why Real Madrid cannot face Liverpool at Anfield
During both previous seasons of the league phase, Liverpool have welcomed 15-times European champions Real Madrid to Anfield. Last November, Alexis Mac Allister's bullet header was the only goal of the night, while the Argentine and Cody Gakpo were on target during a 2-0 win a year earlier.
Well, this week, the UEFA Executive Committee have confirmed a new rule preventing an identical fixture from being played three seasons in a row in the league phase:
"The UEFA Club Competitions Committee has determined an additional condition that may be applicable to the UEFA Champions League draw for the 2026/27 season, deciding that any individual fixture between the same two teams may not be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons"
This does though not prevent the Reds and los Blancos from clashing at the Bernabéu. So, if Real Madrid won't be coming to Merseyside this autumn, which European heavyweights will be?
Who can Liverpool face in the Champions League league phase
In case you need a refresher of how the Champions League league phase works, here is a quick summary. Liverpool will play eight matches, four at Anfield and four on the road, against eight different opponents. Teams are placed into four pots based on their UEFA Club Coefficient Ranking. Thus, the Reds will face a team from each pot at home and a side from ever pot away.
Iraola's side are in pot 1, alongside Premier League champions Arsenal and runners-up Manchester City. Thus, Liverpool cannot face either of those two, limiting their potential opponents. With Real Madrid not allowed to visit Merseyside either, we know that one of holder Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Internazionale Milano, FC Barcelona or Atlético Madrid will be their pot 1 visitors.
The Reds will also travel to a different one of those teams, or indeed Real Madrid. Ahead of the final four Champions League play-offs on Wednesday, here are the confirmed pots:
Champions League league phase pots
Pot 1
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Bayern Munich
- Real Madrid
- Liverpool
- Internazionale Milano
- Manchester City
- Arsenal
- Barcelona
- Atlético Madrid
Pot 2
- Borussia Dortmund
- AS Roma
- Sporting Clube de Portugal
- Aston Villa
- FC Porto
- Manchester United
- Club Brugge
- Real Betis
- PSV Eindhoven
Pot 3
- Feyenoord
- LOSC Lille
- BodĂž/Glimt
- Napoli
- RB Leipzig
- Villarreal
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Galatasaray
- Olympique Lyonnais or Fenerbahçe
Pot 4
- Slavia Prague
- VfB Stuttgart
- LASK
- Como
- RC Lens
- Sabah FK
- AEK Athens or Levski Sofia
- Viking or GNK Dinamo Zagreb
- Ć K Slovan Bratislava or NK Celje
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