Liverpool’s potential Champions League last‑16 opponents are coming into focus after a dramatic first round of knockout play‑off first legs across Europe.
Under the new format, Liverpool went straight to the last 16 after finishing in the top eight of the league phase, while teams placed 9th–24th were thrown into two‑legged play‑offs to join them.
For the round of 16, UEFA “pairs” top‑eight clubs with specific play‑off ties, meaning two elite sides effectively share a small pool of possible opponents.
Liverpool are paired with Tottenham, and together they are linked to the winners of Galatasaray vs Juventus and Club Brugge vs Atletico Madrid. The play‑off victors from those two ties will both advance, with the draw on 27 February then deciding which one faces Liverpool and which one goes to Spurs.
The first legs have tilted the odds towards possible opponents. Galatasaray blew Juventus away 5-2 in Istanbul, producing a wild comeback in a game that saw the Italians finish with ten men and leaving Spalletti’s side with a mountain to climb in Turin next week. With a three‑goal cushion, it already feels like the Turkish champions have one foot in the last 16 and could set up a second Liverpool trip to Istanbul this season.
The other tie is finely poised after Club Brugge and Atletico Madrid shared a 3-3 classic in Belgium, with Diego Simeone’s team twice fighting back in an open contest.
Brugge’s away form means they cannot be written off, but with the second leg to come at the Metropolitano, the sensible prediction is still that Atletico will sort it out on home soil and progress.
Put together, that makes a Galatasaray–Atletico outcome the most likely scenario right now, leaving Liverpool braced for one of Europe’s most hostile atmospheres or a reunion with an Atletico side they know only too well from recent Champions League campaigns.
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