By Daily Sports on August 30, 2018

Liverpool could be drawn into a difficult Champions League group after being left in pot three following Benfica's qualification for the group stages.

If Basel and Benfica had failed to qualify for the group stage draw, which takes place on Thursday in Monaco at 5pm, last year's runners-up would have been in pot two.

While Basel were unable to progress, Benfica beat PAOK Salonika 4-1 in Greece on Wednesday night - after a 1-1 draw in the first leg - to reach the group stages, consigning Liverpool to pot three.

Liverpool are the top-ranked team in pot three based on their UEFA coefficient of 62.000, narrowly missing out on pot two as they trail Roma who have a coefficient of 64.000.

Jurgen Klopp's side were bound to be drawn against some of Europe's elite with the league champions and winners of Champions League and Europa League all in pot one.

However, had they been placed in pot two they could have avoided facing Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli or Roma.

Champions League pots

Pot One

Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid

Barcelona

Bayern Munich

Manchester City

Juventus

Paris Saint-Germain

Lokomotiv Moscow

Pot Two

Borussia Dortmund (89.000)

Porto (86.000)

Manchester United (82.000)

Shakthar Donetsk (81.000)

Benfica (80.000)

Napoli (78.000)

Tottenham (67.000)

Roma (64.000)

Pot Three

Liverpool (62.000)

Schalke (62.000)

Lyon (59.500)

Monaco (57.000)

Ajax (53.500)

CSKA Moscow (45.000)

Valencia (36.000)

PSV Eindhoven (36.000)

Pot Four

Viktoria Plzen (33.000)

Club Brugge (29.500)

Galatasaray (29.500)

Young Boys (20.500)

Inter Milan (16.000)

Hoffenheim (14.285)

Red Star Belgrade (10.750)

AEK Athens (10.000). (Sky Sports)

•Photo shows Liverpool's Sadio Mane walk past through the Champions League trophy his club lost at the final in May.

Source Daily Sports

Posted August 30, 2018

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