UCL Draw: Breaking down Liverpool’s group stage opponents

Liverpool go into this season’s Champions League as the defending champions after beating Premier League rivals Tottenham in the final last season. Jurgen Klopp’s side would have qualified for the competition anyway after finishing a point behind Manchester City in the Premier League title race.

Unlike their league rivals, Liverpool opted against another summer of huge investment and Klopp was instead content with developing last season’s players for another 12 months. They are among the favourites to defend their trophy in the Champions League though many believe they will struggle after failing to strengthen in the transfer window.

Opponent: Napoli

Best UCL finish: Round of 16

Last UCL finish: Group Stage

Odds to win: 60/1 (Unibet)

Napoli secured a second place finish in Serie A last season to qualify straight for the group change of this season’s Champions League, where they will meet Liverpool for the second season running.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side have strengthened over the summer, most notably adding the speed of Kostas Manolas to their defence and the attacking flair of Hirving Lozano in the final third to add to current options like Kalidou Koulibaly, Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne. However, it is Fabian Ruiz that will be most interesting to watch this season following on from his dazzling displays for Spain at this summer’s U21 European Championships.

Opponent: Salzburg

Best UCL finish: Group Stage

Last UCL finish: Group Stage (1994/95)

Odds to win: 500/1 (Betvictor)

Salzburg have qualified for the Champions League group stage for the first time since the 1994/95 campaign, though they are not to be underestimated. The Austrian outfit have consistently qualified for the Champions League since then but have constantly fallen in the play-off route. Salzburg, however, developed into one of most exciting teams in the Europa League in the last few years and qualified directly into the group stage this time around.

Opponent: Genk

Best UCL finish: Group Stage

Last UCL finish: Group Stage (2011/12)

Odds to win: 1000/1 (Bet 365)

Genk have qualified for the Champions League group stage for the first time since the 2011/12 campaign. The Belgian outfit won the Jupiler League by seven points last season though are complete rank outsiders to progress from the group, having never previously managed it. To make things more difficult for Felice Mazzu’s side, they lost key players like Leandro Brossard to Brighton and Ruslan Malinovskyi to Atalanta over the summer.