The earliest Liverpool can confirm UEFA Champions League qualification ahead of Real Madrid

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Liverpool Champions League: The Reds have started brilliantly in the new format and will want to finish in the top eight places.

Liverpool have started brilliantly in the UEFA Champions League winning their first three games to sit joint-top with Aston Villa.

Arne Slot’s side navigated a tricky opener against AC Milan to come away as deserved 3-1 winners at the San Siro before then beating Champions League new-boys Bologna at Anfield. Their most recent outing saw them edge past RB Leipzig and their 100% record is only shared by Unai Emery’s side.

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The new format

The new format has been a new experience for all with the league table format a stark contrast to the standard group stage set-up we’ve known and loved across the years. While there are many similarities, they do play two extra games and there is an incentive to finish in the top eight places which will place those teams into the knockout stages, while the teams ranked 9-24th must play out a knockout round in February before joining them in the Round of 16.

With all the talk of the hectic schedule that sees clubs play seemingly more games than ever, the opportunity to not have to engage in a testing knockout game would be ideal for Liverpool to achieve. Two less games would give ample rest and ensure they can rotate and manage their squad better ahead of the Round of 16 ties.

Points tally needed

In terms of an exact points figure for achieving that - there is no definitive answer. To try and find a potential number, we can use the current rate that the teams in the top eight have picked up points (2.33) to come to a total of 19 points. That’s 2.33 multiplied by the eight games to give that total. That means they would need to find 10 points from their remaining 10 games to stand a strong chance of finishing in the top eight.

After all, for any criticism the competition has had, it is extremely competitive, with clubs in the mid-section all finding ways to take points off each other. Even the big teams have had their struggles. Winning their next four would likely confirm that, leaving just one left to play and the idea that there are no ‘dead’ games in the tournament would clearly come into effect. The likelihood is it won’t be that straightforward, however.

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Fixtures left

They face Leverkusen (H) Real Madrid (H) Girona (A) Lille (H) and PSV (A) across their final five games. In reality, they should begin as firm favourites in those final three games but Lille have already shocked both Madrid sides thus far. Slot will also know the difficulty of facing PSV from his time at Feyenoord.

Both Leverkusen and Madrid have the capability of earning a result at Anfield meaning that those final three games are where they will be able to confirm themselves in that top eight. As we’ve seen, however, no game is by any means a given with the quality on show.

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