The draw in Monaco handed Andoni Iraola’s side an intriguing mix of opponents. Liverpool will host Atlético Madrid, FC Porto, Villarreal and RC Lens at Anfield, while their away fixtures take them to Inter Milan, Club Brugge, Fenerbahçe and LASK. The six-time European champions therefore face several prominent names, although they avoided the absolute heavyweights such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and holders Paris Saint-Germain.
Atlético Madrid
Perhaps Liverpool’s toughest home assignment will come against Atlético Madrid. Diego Simeone is entering his 16th season in charge and has taken the club to two Champions League finals during his tenure. Atlético reached the semi-finals last season.
Their key attacking player is Julián Alvarez, who scored ten goals and provided four assists in the Champions League alone in 2025/26. His future remains uncertain, however, and after being heavily criticised by sections of Atlético’s own support, he could still move to FC Barcelona before the transfer window closes. Atlético qualified directly for the league phase after finishing fourth in LaLiga.
Inter Milan
The trip to Milan also ranks among Liverpool’s most demanding fixtures. Inter won both Serie A and the Coppa Italia under Cristian Chivu last season.
Captain Lautaro Martínez remains the central figure in attack, having scored more than 20 competitive goals in each of his last five seasons. Inter have also added considerable international experience this summer with the arrival of John Stones, while Curtis Jones only recently made the move from Liverpool to Milan. Inter have won Europe’s premier club competition three times, most recently in 2010.
FC Porto
Another former European champion will visit Anfield in the shape of FC Porto. The Portuguese giants lifted the trophy in 1987 and 2004 and returned to the top of domestic football last season by winning the league under Francesco Farioli.
Goalkeeper Diogo Costa remains one of Porto’s most important players. He kept 21 clean sheets during their title-winning campaign, setting a new league record. In midfield, young Danish talent Victor Froholdt also emerged as one of the major discoveries of the season.
Club Brugge
Liverpool’s trip to Belgium brings a reunion with a club that already has a place in the Reds’ European history. Club Brugge reached the 1978 European Cup final, losing 1-0 to Liverpool at Wembley.
The reigning Belgian champions are coached by Ivan Leko. The heartbeat of the side remains Hans Vanaken. Now 34, the playmaker has made more than 550 competitive appearances for Brugge and scored 150 goals.
Villarreal
Villarreal finished third in LaLiga last season and are now coached by Iñigo Pérez. The former assistant to Iraola at Rayo Vallecano guided Rayo to the Conference League final in 2025/26 before making the move to Villarreal.
The main attacking threat is Georges Mikautadze. The Georgia international scored 13 league goals in his first season with the club. Villarreal’s greatest achievement in European competition remains their Europa League triumph in 2021.
Fenerbahçe
The trip to Istanbul promises to be one of the most atmospheric fixtures of Liverpool’s league-phase campaign.
Fenerbahçe had to work hard for their place in the Champions League. İsmail Kartal’s side first eliminated SK Sturm Graz 3-0 on aggregate before beating Olympique Lyon 2-1 away in the play-off second leg following a 1-1 draw in the first meeting. They are back in the main competition for the first time in many years.
The squad contains plenty of familiar names. Talisca remains one of the key attacking players, while Mason Greenwood, N’Golo Kanté, Romelu Lukaku and Milan Škriniar are also available to Kartal.
RC Lens
RC Lens qualified directly for the Champions League after an exceptional season in which they finished runners-up in Ligue 1 and also won the Coupe de France for the first time.
Pierre Sage subsequently left for Crystal Palace and was replaced by former Eintracht Frankfurt coach Dino Toppmöller. Florian Thauvin remains their best-known attacking player after contributing eleven league goals and six assists last season. Lens also added experience and creativity by signing Thorgan Hazard this summer.
They did, however, lose one of their standout performers when former SK Rapid midfielder Mamadou Sangaré joined Brentford FC.
LASK
Liverpool will also travel to Austria, where LASK are preparing for their first Champions League campaign.
The Linz side qualified in extraordinary fashion. After losing 3-0 away to Celtic and then conceding another goal in the return leg, LASK produced a remarkable comeback, winning 5-1 after extra time to advance 5-4 on aggregate.
Dietmar Kühbauer is the head coach, while captain Sascha Horvath is one of the key figures thanks to his intensity and relentless work in midfield. Versatile attacker Moses Usor provides pace and directness, Panama international Andrés Andrade is an important part of the defence, and powerful centre-forward Samuel Adeniran scored twice in the remarkable second leg against Celtic.
Liverpool’s eight fixtures
The draw produced the following match-ups:
- Atlético Madrid (H)
- Inter Milan (A)
- FC Porto (H)
- Club Brugge (A)
- Villarreal (H)
- Fenerbahçe (A)
- RC Lens (H)
- LASK (A)
This is the order in which Liverpool’s opponents were drawn, not the chronological fixture schedule. UEFA will publish the actual order of the eight matchdays, along with the exact dates and kick-off times, by Saturday, 29 August at the latest. The league phase begins between 8 and 10 September and concludes on 27 January 2027.
