A 2-1 away victory was already an impressive feat for Liverpool as they became the first team to win at Hoffenheim in nearly fifteen months. They capped it off with a comfortable 4-2 home win to qualify for the Champions League. Their shaky defence, however, had the fans on the edge of their seats despite the away victory. With all the qualifier fixtures rounded up, UEFA released seeding and pots for the Group Stage.
Narrow defence costs Hoffenheim
An all out attack was Hoffenheim's only option at Anfield as they trailed by two away goals, they set up for a night of attacking football with 3 at the back.
The 3-man back line effectively failed for the German side from the first whistle and Liverpool easily distributed the ball out to Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in the wide positions. Liverpool scored their first goal through Emre Can in the 10th minute before increasing their lead to 5-1 on aggregate with goals from Mohamed Salah in the 18th and Emre Can in the 21st minute. Despite Liverpool's goals, the game never really settled down with both teams attacking every opportunity and Mark Uth, the 24th-minute substitute for Hoffenheim, scored his second goal of the tie in the 28th minute to give his side a chance. Liverpool restored their attacking flow in the second half however and Roberto Firmino scored against his previous employers in the 63rd minute to seal the game for the Reds before the visitors got a consolation goal through Sandro Wagner.
Seeds and potential tie-ups
Seeded: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Benfica, Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Monaco, Spartak Moscow
Pot 2: Barcelona, Atletico, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla, Man City, FC Porto, Man United
Pot 3: Napoli, Tottenham, FC Basel, Olympiakos, Anderlecht, Liverpool, Roma, Besiktas
Pot 4: Celtic, CSKA Moscow, Sporting CP, APOEL Nicosia, Feyenoord, NK Maribor, FK Qarabag, RB Leipzig
The seeded teams are all champions from Europe's top 8 leagues, while the other three pots are decided through UEFA's coefficient system.
The teams will find out their groups on Thursday at 17H00 UK time with the first round of matches taking place on the 12th and 13th of September. Liverpool drawn in the third pot would make them a very tough opponent for any of the other teams as the 5-time European champions have a point to prove under Klopp after a prolonged absence from the competition.
Paris Saint-Germain would also have renewed hopes to lift the trophy with their record signing of Neymar. All in all with teams like Liverpool, Tottenham, Leipzig and Roma in Pot 3 and 4, the group stage draw itself promises to be an anxious affair.
