Liverpool have gotten closer towards a seedings boost in the next edition of the UEFA Champions League following FC Basel’s recent elimination in the second qualifying stage of the competition. The Swiss top-flight runners-up from the last campaign, where the current Reds duo of Mohamed Salah and Xherdan Shaqiri used to play, were defeated convincingly with a 3-0 score by Greek outfit PAOK Salonika. Basel lost the tie with an aggregate scoreline of 5-1 which thus, ended their hopes of Champions League glory.
The Merseyside club has met the Swiss giants four times in Champions League history, in 2002 and 2014 but are yet to defeat them so far, drawing three matches while losing once.
The Reds of Merseyside currently find themselves in pot three ahead of the draw for the group stages of the 2018/19 edition but are aware that if both Basel and Benfica get eliminated, they would be handed a big boost of being promoted to pot two.
Jurgen Klopp’s team are now halfway to being handed that advantage but are in need of the Portuguese giants, who are set to enter at the third qualifying stage, to not secure a passage past the remaining two obstacles, which includes a playoff round to gain that advantage.
The Merseyside heavyweights had an outstanding European campaign last season when they went all the way to the final of the previous edition of the Champions League having started out as a pot three club after being partnered alongside Sevilla, Spartak Moscow and Maribor in the group stages.
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However, if Liverpool were to be bumped up into pot two, they would not cross paths with the likes of Borussia Dortmund, FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Napoli in the group stage of this upcoming European campaign.
