How Liverpool can avoid Champions League group of death

The draw for the Champions League group stage takes place on Thursday.

Four Premier League teams – Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool – will find out which three teams from the continent stand between themselves and a place in the knockout rounds.

As always, 32 teams will compete in the group stage, with eight groups of four teams. 26 of the 32 have already qualified, with the final six to be determined in Tuesday and Wednesday’s play-off second legs.

This is how things are shaping up at the moment, as per BBC Sport.

Pot one: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Lokomotiv Moscow.

Pot two: Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Napoli, Tottenham, Roma.

Pot three: Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, CSKA Moscow.

Pot four: Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Inter Milan, Hoffenheim.

Yes, Liverpool have yet to be assigned. The Reds finished runners-up last season after losing to Real Madrid in the final, but they could still end up in pot three of the group stage.

In other words, Jurgen Klopp’s Reds may be left with an extremely difficult group. Liverpool will be drawn in pot three unless Benfica fail to qualify, in which case they will be bumped up to pot two.

The Portuguese side travel to PAOK of Greece on Wednesday night following a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their play-off.

If Benfica qualify, Liverpool face the prospect of potentially drawing Real Madrid and Roma in the same group, setting up rematches of last year’s semi-final and final.

Manchester City are the only English side in pot one, meaning they will avoid the European heavyweights. Manchester United and Tottenham are both pot two, meaning they will each face one of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Lokomotiv Moscow.

The Champions League group stage gets underway on 18 and 19 September.