2018-19 Champions League list of 32 teams has been confirmed with group stage draw seedings set. Real Madrid & Barcelona lead Pot 1 as Liverpool enter Pot 3.
Liverpool could face a more difficult Champions League group after Benfica secured their place in Pot 2 for the draw on Wednesday evening.
Benfica got past PAOK 5-2 on aggregate to secure safe passage into the group stage, and that rubber-stamps Liverpool's berth in Pot 3.
It means AS Roma are the sole beneficiaries of FC Basel's failure to come through qualifying and move up to Pot 2.
Roma now can't be grouped with any of the other teams in Pot 2, which contains the top-ranked non-seeds by UEFA coefficient -- Borussia Dortmund, FC Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli and Tottenham Hotspur. But aside from United and Tottenham (based on being from the same association), Liverpool will.
Pot 1 contains Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid as Champions League and Europa League holders, along with the champions of the top six European leagues.
Valencia move up to Pot 3 after FC Salzburg went out to Red Star Belgrade on away goals, but Inter Milan will have to make do with Pot 4.
Among the worst-case scenarios for Liverpool would be a group also containing Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Inter.
Group-stage draw pots
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Lokomotiv Moscow
Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, FC Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli, Tottenham Hotspur, Roma
Pot 3: Liverpool, Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, Ajax, CSKA Moscow, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia
Pot 4: Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Inter Milan, Hoffenheim, Red Star Belgrade, AEK Athens
The group-stage draw will take place on Thursday, Aug. 30, starting at 5 p.m. BST, midday ET.
More to read: Champions League 2018-19 group stage draw - All you need to know