COULD LIVERPOOL FACE REAL MADRID? UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE DRAW POT CONFIRMED

The UEFA Champions League pots for group stage have been finalised just moment after the final qualifying round ties was concluded on Wednesday.

Ajax, Club Brugge and Slavia Prague gained the final three slots in the group stage, which begins on Sept. 17-18.

Three English clubs are seeded in this year's competition, with Premier League champions Manchester City joined by Liverpool and Chelsea as the holders of the two European trophies. Pot 1 also include the other champions of the top five European leagues.

Pots 2,3 and 4 were drawn up using UEFA's coefficient system, as it ranks European performance over the previous five seasons.

"POT 1: Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg

POT 2: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Ajax, Benfica

POT 3: Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Salzburg, Olympiakos, Club Brugge, Valencia, Inter Milan, Dinamo Zagreb

POT 4: Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Atalanta, Lille"

A team from each pot will be drawn into one of the eight groups, which can feature only one team from each country. The two teams that finished top will advance to the round of 16.

The draw takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday at 6 p.m. CET, midday ET.

See also 👉 Virgil Van Dijk out to make history against Messi, Ronaldo.

The following award winners will also be announced during the draw ceremony:

• UEFA Men's Player of the Year
• UEFA Women's Player of the Year
• Goalkeeper of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season
• Defender of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season
• Midfielder of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season
• Forward of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League season.