What Liverpool’s defeat means for next season’s Champions League

Liverpool came up short in the Champions League final to cap off a tricky week for the Reds that saw their quadruple hunt boiled down to just a cup double, in what is sure to go down as a season of what if’s for Jurgen Klopp’s men.

🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆

Real Madrid have done it in the Champions League once again!

The Kings of Europe! 👑#UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/SlSLTNV5sk

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 28, 2022

A sole Vinicius Junior goal, and a brilliant performance from Thibaut Courtois, ensured that it was Real Madrid that registered a double of their own, lifting their 14th Champions League trophy in the process.

More widely, too, the game had ripple effects. Those were felt not least on the pots for the draw for next season’s competition.

What has changed?

Had Liverpool won the Champions League, they would have entered next season’s competition in pot 1, courtesy of being the current holders. Along with the holders, the winners of the domestic leaguers for England (Manchester City), France (Paris Saint Germain), Germany (Bayern Munich), Italy (AC Milan) and Spain (Real Madrid) are drawn into the top pot, along with the Europa League holders and the winners from Portugal (Porto).

The Real Madrid win has also seen the winners of the Eredivisie (Ajax) placed into pot 1, at the expense of Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s side find themselves in pot 2, alongside Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, RB Leipzig and Tottenham.

In short, then, had Liverpool won the competition, they would have been drawn against one of the sides in pot 2, thought to be the “easier” sides, but their defeat means that instead their group will contain one of the giants from pot 1 (excluding Manchester City).

Meanwhile, the likes of Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen all lurk in pot 3, meaning that the English clubs could once again find themselves in tricky groups come the draw next season.