Whether he's on the pitch or the bench, the Scouser is set for a hostile reception at Anfield, while the champions have been dealt a bad hand

After another needlessly long ceremony, the draw for the league phase of the 2025-26 Champions League was finally concluded in Monaco on Thursday evening.

Just like last year, it was all very complicated and confusing, with UEFA's super-computer spitting out one fixture list after another for the 36 participants, who will battle it out in one giant league for the right to progress directly to the last 16 or compete in a play-off round.

Luckily, GOAL is here to try and make sense of it all by bringing you the big winners and losers from the draw for this season's tournament, including the reigning champions and a one-time Liverpool hero who won't be looking forward to going home...

Barcelona

Barcelona are still pretty bitter about failing to at least reach the final of last season's Champions League, with Hansi Flick and his players less than impressed with some of the officiating in their last-four loss to Inter at San Siro.

Still, that controversial near-miss only made Lamine Yamal & Co. even more determined to conquer Europe this term, and they've been presented with a fantastic opportunity to lay down an early marker after they were drawn to host European champions Paris Saint-Germain while they will also take on Club World Cup winners Chelsea. If Barca were to even take four points from those two games, you'd fancy them to storm straight into the last 16.

St. James' Park can obviously be a very tough place to go, but Barca avoided any other potential banana skins or long flights from the lesser pots. By contrast, La Liga title rivals Real Madrid face cross-continental trips to Greece (Olympiacos) and Kazakhstan (Kairat Almaty), meaning they could be tired for crucial league games in the days that follow those games.

Paris Saint-Germain

Paris Saint-Germain are the reigning champions. They've no need to fear any team in the tournament, after beating one English team after another in 2024-25 before routing Inter in the final.

However, let's not forget that PSG were on the verge of an embarrassingly early elimination after winning just one of their first five games last season - and this year's draw has been even more unkind to Luis Enrique's team.

On top of the fact that they were paired with giants Bayern Munich and Barcelona from Pot One, PSG don't have a single gimme, after drawing Newcastle and Athletic Club - undoubtedly the two toughest potential opponents - from Pot Four

PSG obviously have the talent to retain their title. This is a young squad that should, in theory, only get better in the coming years and having no credible competition in Ligue 1 means Luis Enrique remains in the very advantageous position of being able to rest his key men in between important European encounters. However, if the Parisians are to win a second successive Champions League, they're clearly going to have to do it the hard way - again.

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola will obviously be quick to point out that there are no easy games in the Champions League and that a return to Real Madrid will bring back a lot of unhappy memories for Manchester City, given they suffered a tame play-off round elimination at Santiago Bernabeu last season, However, there's simply no getting away from the fact that Thursday's draw went quite well for the Catalan coach.

Getting Galatasaray at home rather than away means City have avoided a trip to 'Hell', and they won't have to break down Borussia Dortmund's 'Yellow Wall' either, with BVB due at the Etihad as their Pot One opponent.

Antonio Conte's Napoli will obviously be a tough nut to crack but, again, they've avoided having to travel to the Maradona to take on the reigning Italian champions and instead will be able to welcome club icon Kevin De Bruyne back to the stadium where he thrilled fans for a decade. In fact, as it stands, their most arduous journey will be the one they make to northern Norway to face Bodo/Glimt, who should be overcome with the minimum of fuss.

City obviously have their issues at the moment, but games against the likes of Erik ten Hag's Bayer Leverkusen will present Pep with opportunities to resolve them in time for the knockout stage.

Trent Alexander-Arnold

When it was first revealed that Trent Alexander-Arnold was leaving Liverpool, some of the club's supporters turned on 'one of their own' for ruthlessly running down his contract. By the time it came to say goodbye to Alexander-Arnold at Anfield, most fans were in a much more forgiving mood, primarily because they were too busy celebrating a Premier League title triumph, while a public plea from former coach Jurgen Klopp also played a part in the right-back receiving a relatively warm send-off.

However, Alexander-Arnold would be advised to brace himself for a hostile reception when he returns to Merseyside with Real Madrid in the coming months. The England international may have impressed the local media when he spoke Spanish in his first press conference at Santiago Bernabeu, but it went down like a lead balloon back in Liverpool, as it essentially confirmed what most Reds had suspected: that Alexander-Arnold had been preparing for his move to Madrid long before the transfer was confirmed.

Consequently, the 26-year-old is something of a lose-lose situation now. If he plays at Anfield, his every touch could well be booed. But even if he's left on the bench - as he was against Real Oviedo at the weekend - the locals will no doubt be quick to remind him that whereas he could have become a club legend at Liverpool, he's now just another player at Madrid.

Thomas Frank

Thomas Frank's first summer at Tottenham hasn't exactly gone according to plan. The Dane has seen two seemingly done deals collapse in rather embarrassing fashion - Eberechi Eze's 11th-hour U-turn was particularly tough to take - while he's also lost a couple of key attackers to long-term injuries.

However, Spurs have made a storming start to the season, with Saturday's incredibly impressive 2-0 win at much-fancied Manchester City highlighting the steps forward they have already taken in comparison to last season's shambolic Premier League displays under Ange Postecoglou.

Now, they've received a rather favourable draw in the Champions League. Granted, Spurs must make a daunting trip to Paris to face titleholders PSG, but their seven other fixtures are all winnable, while they will take confidence from their Super Cup display when they do take on Luis Enrique's side.

Indeed, Spurs should be quite looking forward to home games against Borussia Dortmund and Villarreal, while trips to Eintracht Frankfurt and Bodo/Glimt won't phase them given they beat both sides on their way to winning the Europa League just a few months ago.

Newcastle

Eddie Howe can't catch a break at the moment. Just three days after watching his side suffer a heart-breaking loss to Liverpool in the 'Alexander Isak derby', Newcastle were handed a seriously difficult draw in the Champions League.

Their match against Barcelona will obviously evoke beautiful memories of the famous, Faustino Asprilla-inspired win over the Catalans all the way back in 1997. But facing Hansi Flick's side represents the toughest possible home draw for a Newcastle team that could well be without Isak for the game at St. James' Park - whether the striking Swede manages to force through his move to Liverpool before Monday or not.

The Magpies also face PSG, Benfica, Leverkusen, Marseille and Athletic Club, meaning Howe's side will have to beat clubs with far more European experience than his own if Newcastle are to avoid a repeat of their 2023 performance when they failed to make the knockouts.(GOAL)

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