The new look Champions League league phase has introduced an element of unpredictability but that doesn’t change Liverpool’s goals on Tuesday against Lille.
With the new look expanded Champions League with a league phase extending the competition’s initial phase into January, Liverpool head back into European action against Lille on Tuesday with a bye to the Round of 16 all but mathematically secured.
The Reds top the table, the only unbeaten side after six games with two to play before the knockouts kick off. The top eight don’t play the first knockout round. For practical purposes eight of the next eleven sides have to win their next two while Liverpool lose for them to end up in the knockout playoff.
Liverpool aren’t mathematically safe on that front, but with a many of the chasing sides set to play each other in the coming weeks it’s hard to imagine they won’t go straight through. Still, any result against Lille tomorrow would tip things over to 100%.
“The most important thing every time is, especially in front of our own fans, we want to win the game,” said Reds’ manager Arne Slot. “With this new setup you maybe think ending up number one is the best position but if I look at Paris Saint-Germain they are quite low on the table, which is not their quality.
“Maybe if you end up first you face them and it’s a disadvantage, so I’m not looking at the league table in this format. Being on top maybe doesn’t tell you you’re best and 24th the 24th, so we want to win but not from an idea it will help the rest of the campaign.”
Still, the teams in 23rd and 24th will have to face the teams in 9th or 10th in the playoff—with clubs able to shift by one position to ensure some element of a draw remains—in order to face the side that finishes either 7th or 8th and gets a bye.
Meanwhile, if Liverpool finish 1st or 2nd they face the winner of one of the playoffs between 15th/16th and 17th/18th. At present table, that all means that 7th and 8th get the winner of Dortmund or Bayern (9th and 10th) vs. PSV or Dinamo Zagreb (23rd and 24th) while 1st or 2nd get Benfica, Monaco, Sporting, or Slot’s former club Feyenoord (15th-18th).
There may be an element of unpredictability due to how the league phase has played out to date, but there does still seem to be an advantage beyond a slightly higher monetary prize for league phase position to finishing higher up in the final table—and Lille, currently 8th, will be desperate for a result.
“I’m not surprised but impressed,” Slot added of Liverpool’s opponents. “A few weeks ago I hadn’t see them playing and was like, ‘Oh, they beat Atletico Madrid, they beat Real Madrid—surprise.’ But now I saw many games of them and I’m not surprised anymore.
“They’ve deserved every single point they got until now. They faced Juventus, they faced Atletico Madrid, they faced Real Madrid. And now they are facing us, so they haven’t been lucky with the fixtures so that’s why I’m so impressed with them in the Champions League.”