Liverpool have been handed their draw for the Champions League knockout rounds today and while they avoided the threat of facing Atletico Madrid in the Round of 16, the price they paid for it is landing on what consensus has as the otherwise far harder side of the bracket for the 2025-26 edition of Europe’s top cup competition.
Instead of Atleti, Liverpool will take on an in-form Galatasaray side that just dispatched Juventus, a pairing that will require a first leg trip to Istanbul to take on the
Turkish side. For whoever advances, Paris Saint-Germain are taking on Chelsea in the paired Round of 16 tie on their side of the bracket. In the semi-final, one of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, or Atalanta will await.
As the third-place side in group play, Liverpool will get to play the second leg at home against anyone other than second-place Bayern Munich on their side of the bracket.
On the other side, fourth-place group finishers Tottenham get Liverpool’s could-have-been opponents Atletico Madrid with Newcastle taking on Barcelona in the paired Round of 16 tie. In the other quartet first-place Arsenal take on Leverkusen while Bodo/Glimt face Sporting Lisbon in a section that seems weighted to favour the group phase table toppers.
Given the long trip Liverpool face and current season form both domestically and in Europe, it’s not clear that Liverpool getting Galatasaray is actually really any easier than facing Atletico Madrid might have been, and certainly the rest looks more difficult. If the Reds do win it all nobody will say they had an easy path.
