The pots for the Champions League groups have been confirmed – and there is bad news for Liverpool.
Europe’s biggest clubs discover their fate for the world’s premiere cup competition on Thursday when the group stage draw is completed.
Three final qualifying fixtures took place on Wednesday night, determining the complete line-up for the competition.
Benfica’s progression into the group stage means that Liverpool will be in pot three for the draw, as oppose to pot two as they would have been placed if they had progressed.
Seedings for the draw are determined by the UEFA coefficient rankings, which are based on the performances of clubs in the Champions League and Europa League over the past five seasons.
As well as Liverpool, the Premier League will be represented by Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham in the tournament this year, with Chelsea and Arsenal instead entering the Europa League.
Here is how the pots will look for Thursday’s draw…
Confirmed Champions League pots for group stage draw
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Lokomotiv Moscow
Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli, Tottenham, Roma
Pot 3: Liverpool, Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, CSKA Moscow, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia
Pot 4: Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Inter Milan, Hoffenheim, Crvena zvezda, AEK Athens
