Familiar foes and first-time opponents as Liverpool learn Champions League fate | OneFootball

Liverpool have discovered the eight teams that they’ll face in the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League.

The draw has been made at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, with this being the second season in which the single 36-team league phase will determine which teams advance to the knockout rounds of Europe’s premier club competition.

The Reds finished top in that stage of the tournament last term with seven wins out of eight, only to be defeated on penalties by eventual trophy winners Paris Saint-Germain in the round of 16.

Who will Liverpool face in 2025/26 Champions League?

Liverpool’s eight opponents for the league phase of the Champions League have been confirmed (as per UEFA.com).

Yet again, Real Madrid will be visiting Anfield, having lost 2-0 to the Reds on Merseyside last November, and we’ll also host their city rivals Atletico for the third time since March 2020.

The other home fixtures are against PSV Eindhoven (who we met in Netherlands in January) and a first-ever meeting against a team from Azerbaijan in Qarabag.

Arne Slot’s side will be away to last season’s beaten finalists Inter Milan, 2022 Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille and face a daunting trip to Istanbul to face Galatasaray.

(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images for Qatar Airways)

A mix of the familiary and the novel for Liverpool

Eyes will immediately be drawn to the two home games against the Madrid clubs, in particular the team in white who a certain Trent Alexander-Arnold now represents (he’ll get quite the welcome back at Anfield…)

The Reds have faced Los Blancos in this competition seven times since 2018, including two losing finals, and it’s fair to say that familiarity has bred some contempt over the past decade!

Liverpool will also visit the San Siro for the second season running, but this time to play Inter rather than AC Milan, and we’ve won on our last three visits to the legendary Italian venue.

From the familiar to the novel, Qarabag represent an unknown quantity for LFC, with their Anfield clash being the first time they’ve ever met.

There’s also a first competitive clash against Eintracht Frankfurt since September 1972, when the Merseysiders triumphed 2-0 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup first round.

The trip to Germany has the makings of a brilliant away day for the travelling Kopites, who’ll be eager to see their team finish in the top eight for a second successive season so as to bypass a dangerous play-off round in February and go straight into the last 16.