Liverpool topped the first ever Champions League league phase and it doesn’t feel like we’ve been handed the biggest benefit for achieving this feat.
The first thing that was confirmed in Friday morning’s draw was that the Reds would be facing PSG in the round of 16.
Our seeded place meant that the second leg will be played at Anfield on March 11/12, after the first leg in Paris on March 4/5.
Next up on the agenda was our quarter final opponents, although this time we lost our home advantage on this occasion, with either Aston Villa or Club Brugge being our opponents.
After potential success in Birmingham or Belgium, Arne Slot’s side will hope to march onto the semi finals and the opponents awaiting are rather tasty.
We will be playing Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, PSV Eindhoven or Arsenal in a series of fixtures which could be fit enough for the final itself.
Fortune was on our side with it being confirmed that should we reach the last four, any of the above will be travelling to Merseyside for the second leg and last match before the final.
All-in-all, it’s certainly not the easiest draw but one that you would at least fancy us to get to the semis and then we’d have to be at our best to go all the way.
Inter Milan, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona will be the most likely opponents in Germany on the 31 May but there’s a lot of football to be played first (via UEFA).
Liverpool’s route to the final in Munich has been confirmed
To have topped the group like we did and our ‘reward’ for doing so being a trip to Paris, does feel a little against the supposed benefits of this new format.
Not only to face tough opposition but also with the fact that we have a return to the city that hosted the 2022 final and caused so much physical and mental harm to our supporters.
The rest of the draw is quite favourable though and, even though the semi finals will be very tough, this is supposed to be a hard competition to win.
With our head coach already bemoaning fatigue in some of his first team players, let’s hope a run in Europe can coincide with chasing for the Premier League title and one doesn’t negatively impact the other.
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