Liverpool’s route to potential Champions League glory has just become a whole lot clearer | OneFootball

The newly-introduced format for the Champions League this season was quite difficult for many football fans to understand at first, but Liverpool have made things look remarkably easy in the competition!

The single 36-team league phase sees the top eight finishers progress directly to the round of 16, duly bypassing a play-off round featuring the teams who place from positions 9 to 24, with the bottom 12 sides eliminated from Europe altogether.

The Reds remain the only club with a 100% record in the tournament this term after they beat Lille at Anfield on Tuesday night, a result which mathematically confirmed their passage to the last 16.

Liverpool are the favourites to win the Champions League outright among many betting sites, and with Arne Slot’s side now guaranteed to finish either first or second in the league phase, their route to potential glory in Munich on 31 May has just become clearer.

Who could Liverpool face in the last 16 of the Champions League?

The Merseysiders now know that, in the round of 16, they’ll face the winner of a knockout play-off tie involving teams who finish between 15th and 18th in the league phase, along with having the second leg at Anfield.

Following Tuesday night’s results, those positions are occupied (in descending order) by AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Club Brugge and Benfica, although that’s set to change considerably once tonight’s matches and next week’s concluding matchday are settled.

(Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

The significance for Liverpool of finishing in the top two is that they’ll avoid anyone who places fourth or higher until the semi-finals; and should they top the league table, they could only meet the second-placed team if both get to the final.

It means that next Wednesday’s match away to PSV is virtually academic for the Reds, with Slot surely taking the opportunity to rest key players, particularly those at risk of suspension if they pick up another yellow card.

Who could Liverpool face in the Champions League quarter-finals onwards?

If we get to the quarter-finals, we’ll face the winner of a round-of-16 tie between a team finishing seventh or eighth and one placing 9th, 10th, 23rd or 24th, with the higher-placed sides theoretically rewarded with the ‘easier’ side of the draw.

A litany of surprise results in this season’s Champions League means that Liverpool could still end up facing one of Europe’s big fish in the last 16 – it’s not implausible that we could meet a Real Madrid or Manchester City at that stage (there is no ‘country protection’ in any of the knockout rounds).

It won’t be until after 10pm next Wednesday that the Reds can map out which teams they might encounter in the spring months and at what phase, but by assuring themselves of a top-two finish last night, the route to Munich has become a little clearer.