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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Mark Jones

Champions League group stage qualifiers confirmed as trio complete 2019/20 lineup

The lineup for the 2019/20 Champions League group stages was completed on Wednesday as the final three sides made it through their respective playoffs.

Last season's semi-finalists Ajax beat Cypriot side APOEL 2-0 in Amsterdam and on aggregate thanks to goals from Mexican centre-back Edson Alvarez - the man the club signed to replace departing captain Matthijs de Ligt - and Dusan Tadic.

Ajax will now go into pot two for Thursday's group stage draw, with already qualified Lyon dropping into pot three.

Club Brugge are in pot three after they battled past Austrian side LASK Linz 3-1 on aggregate thanks to a 2-1 win in Belgium, while Slavia Prague made it through and into pot four as they beat Romanian side Cluj 1-0 on the night and 2-0 on aggregate.

Alvarez celebrates for Ajax (OLAF KRAAK/EPA-EFE/REX)

All three sides could come up against English opposition in Thursday's draw, in which Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea will discover their fates.

Liverpool lifted the trophy for the sixth time in their history when they beat Premier League rivals Tottenham 2-0 in the Madrid final in June, with Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi's strikes earning the victory.

The Reds were playing in their second successive final having lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in Kiev in May 2018, and they'll be bidding to the return to this year's showpiece event at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, the scene of their 2005 triumph.

LIverpool hope for a repeat of Madrid last year (Getty Images)

Having earned back-to-back Premier League title successes, Manchester City will be looking to improve on their best ever Champions League showing; 2016's semi-final loss to Real Madrid.

Tottenham will be hoping to go one better having last that final to Liverpool last season, while Chelsea return to Europe's top table after beating Arsenal 4-1 in the Europa League final in May.

Pot 1

  • Liverpool
  • Chelsea
  • Barcelona
  • Bayern Munich
  • Juventus
  • Manchester City
  • Paris Saint-Germain
  • Zenit St Petersburg

Pot 2

  • Real Madrid
  • Atletico Madrid
  • Borussia Dortmund
  • Napoli
  • Shakhtar Donetsk
  • Tottenham
  • Ajax
  • Benfica
Real Madrid are in pot two (REUTERS/Juan Medina)

Pot 3

  • Lyon
  • Bayer Leverkusen
  • Salzburg
  • Olympiakos
  • Club Brugge
  • Valencia
  • Inter Milan
  • Dinamo Zagreb

Pot 4

  • Lokomotiv Moscow
  • Genk
  • Galatasaray
  • RB Leipzig
  • Slavia Prague
  • Red Star Belgrade
  • Atalanta
  • Lille
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