Liverpool’s 2024-25 Champions League path to glory – but who could they face?
The Champions League group phase has now ended and after a hugely entertaining few months, Liverpool has emerged as the group winners and fans are awaiting the draw.
Arne Slot’s side managed seven wins in eight games including fantastic victories over Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan, to name a few.
While they did taste defeat against PSV Eindhoven in their final game, it was virtually a dead rubber given they had already qualified in the top eight teams who get to bypass the first knockout round.
As a result, they won’t be involved until the knockout draw that takes place only after the knockout play-offs are played first, featuring teams who finished between 9th and 24th place in the group phase.
Their fixtures have been pre-determined through their league position, with the clubs ranked ninth to 16th being seeded, those placed 17th to 24th are unseeded and then the draw on January 31 will confirm those games.
The biggest surprise from the initial bracket is that Manchester City are set to face either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid due to their final finishing position of 22nd – meaning one of Liverpool’s biggest rivals will be eliminated before they re-enter the competition.
In addition, there is more good news for Liverpool as City will be facing either Madrid or Bayern in a second leg during the week before their league meeting with Slot’s side, who will have the benefit of a week off before such a key game.
Another benefit for Liverpool is due to their final top-eight position, they will be home in the second leg of their R16 tie and finishing first means they wouldn’t be eligible to meet second-place Barcelona until the final, who stands out as one of the favourites to go far in the competition.
With all that in mind, we’ve decided to break down which teams Liverpool can/cannot face across the different stages to try and make sense of the new format (which is simply just more complicated than it looks).
Key dates
- Playoff draw – January 31
- Knockout playoffs: February 11/12 and 18/19
- Knockouts draw – February 21
- Last 16: March 4/5 and 11/12
- Quarter-final: April 8/9 and 15/16
- Semi-final: April 29/30 and May 6/7
- Final: May 31 (Munich)
Who Liverpool can face in the last 16
There are four teams that Liverpool can face in the last 16 that have been confirmed and those include:
PSG, Benfica, Monaco or Brest.
Clearly, PSG are the standout team who overcame Man City 4-2 at the Etihad and are currently runaway leaders in Ligue 1.
The draw for the knockout playoff takes place on Friday, January 31 where 16 teams face two-legged affairs.
After that, the final draw for the rest of the competition will take place on February 21, giving a much clearer view of the layout ahead.
Who Liverpool can face in the quarter-finals
In the quarter-finals, things are likely to become even trickier as potential opponents include:
Lille/Aston Villa, Atalanta/Borussia Dortmund or Sporting CP/Club Brugge.
Having already faced Lille, they know all about them but the French side offered a difficult test at Anfield and recently finished their campaign with a 6-1 demolition of Slot’s former side Feyenoord.
Whereas an all-English clash is never easy and Aston Villa certainly boasts an incredibly difficult test should that be the fixture.
Plus, they have previous with Atalanta who dumped them out of the Europa League last season, winning 3-0 at Anfield.
Borussia Dortmund may well rediscover their form after a difficult as they embed a new manager while Sporting and Club Brugge offer lesser threats.
Who Liverpool can face in the semi-finals
There are 13 teams Liverpool can’t face until the semi-finals (including Barcelona who they can only meet in the final) including:
Arsenal/Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid/Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid/Bayern Munich, AC Milan/PSV, Feyenoord/Juventus and Celtic/Manchester City.
To make things more complicated, one of each of these pairings will find themselves on the other side of the draw meaning they won’t face them until the final.
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— Dale Johnson (@DaleJohnsonESPN) January 29, 2025