Champions League draw 2017: Liverpool's worst and best possible group opponents

Liverpool will return to the Champions League group stages for the first time in three years after beating Hoffenheim 6-3 on aggregrate to qualify for Europe's elite competition.

Jurgen Klopp's side will discover the three teams they are due to face in the Champions League group stage in the draw which takes place in Monaco at 5pm BST on Thursday afternoon.

Each of the 32 teams will be divided into four pots and then drawn into eight different groups – comprising of one team from each pot.

We already know the composition of Pot 1 – with current holders Real Madrid being grouped alongside the champions of the other top seven leagues in Europe based on Uefa’s coefficient rankings.

In England’s case, that means Premier League champions Chelsea are in Pot 1, while Manchester United and Manchester City are placed in Pot 2. Tottenham are most likely to find themselves in Pot 3 alongside Liverpool, should they qualify, while Celtic will be in Pot 4.

By assuming the top seeds from each play-off tie reach the group stage, we have a good idea of the best and worst possible scenarios for each of the British clubs in the draw.

Here are Liverpool’s worst case scenarios:

• Real Madrid

• PSG

• Liverpool

• RB Leipzig

Because the Reds are in Pot 3, they will draw one team from each of Pots 1 and 2 which contain the highest-ranked teams in Europe.

That means they could face a horrible group with the likes of current holders Real Madrid (Pot 1), the super-rich PSG (Pot 2) and Bundesliga runners-up RB Leipzig from Pot 4.

• Juventus

• Barcelona

• Liverpool

• Feyenoord

Should Liverpool avoid Real Madrid from Pot 1 - and draw last season's runners-up Juventus instead - that would open up Spanish sides Barcelona and Atletico from Pot 2.

• Bayern Munich

• Atletico

• Liverpool

• Sporting

They could also draw Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich from Pot 1 and the likes of Portuguese side Sporting, Russian side CSKA Moscow or Dutch champions Feyenoord from Pot 4.

Here are Liverpool's best case scenarios:

• Spartak

• Porto

• Liverpool

• Apoel

The lowest ranked sides in Pot 1 (according to Uefa club coefficient rankings) are Russian champions Spartak Moscow and Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk.

• Shakhtar

• Sevilla

• Liverpool

• Maribor

Of teams in Pot 2, Sevilla appear to be the weakest although they are notoriously difficult to beat in Europe and defeated the Reds in the 2015 Europa League final. Klopp could also face his former side Borussia Dortmund from Pot 2.

• Benfica

• Dortmund

• Liverpool

• FC Kobenhavn

​Klopp will be eyeing up the likes of Slovenian side Maribor, the Danish team FC Kobenhavn and Cypriot champions Apoel Nicosia from Pot 4.