Pot luck? Liverpool deserved better and draw will make their Prem title tilt tougher

LIVERPOOL may look the real deal – but I fear their Champions League draw could have a major impact on the title race.

In between taking care of business at home, Jurgen Klopp faces a gruelling schedule against Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli and Red Star Belgrade in Europe.

That will test the depth of Klopp’s expensively-refurbished squad to the limit – and I hope it does not drain them of firepower when it matters in the Premier League.

It was a nonsense that Liverpool were in pot three – outside the real elite – in the draw. I’m not interested in UEFA’s coefficients and formulas scribbled on the back of crisp packets.

If you reach the Champions League final, and finish in the top four of a competitive division like the Premier League, surely you deserve to be no lower than pot two, shielded from some of the big guns.

Somehow, Lokomotiv Moscow were in pot one with giants Real Madrid, PSG, and Bayern Munich.

Really? I don’t recall them being involved at the business end of last season’s Champions League, nor in any other season for that matter.

But skewed or otherwise, the draw means Liverpool will have to do it the hard way.

Three days after facing PSG, for example, they come home to the fire and brimstone of the Merseyside derby, and their ‘warm-up’ for a thunderous date with Manchester City is a tricky excursion to face Napoli.

This is where Klopp’s £170million investment in keeper Alisson (right), Naby Keita, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri will be worth every penny.

At face value, I believe they will run City very close for the title and substantially close the 25-point gap between the teams last season.

As well as Klopp’s new signings, Virgil van Dijk is playing with the authority of a world-class centre-back and Liverpool’s defensive steel – they have not conceded a Premier League goal at Anfield since February – has gone under the radar.

Keita (above, second left) has made an instant impact in midfield, and Shaqiri’s guile means they are betterequipped to remain dominant if Mo Salah, Sadio Mane or Roberto Firmino (above, second right) is off the field.

I like the strength of the group Klopp (main) has assembled, I like the vibrancy of the manager himself, and I like the way Liverpool have started the season.

The last two wins, against Crystal Palace and Brighton, have been efficient rather than swashbuckling – but they are also the kind of games where Liverpool have dropped points in recent seasons.

Can they sustain a title challenge and go on another Champions League run? You would like to think so, and it’s important for Klopp that he wins a trophy – at home or in Europe – to have something tangible to show for his work.

But after Thursday’s draw in Monaco, I feel as if the odds have tilted more in City’s favour. They were my favourites to win the European Cup before a ball was kicked, and when you look at City’s Champions League group, there is every chance they will be through to the knockout stages with games to spare.

I just can’t see Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon and Hoffenheim giving Pep Guardiola (above) nightmares.

That means City would be able to give the Premier League their fullest attention from early November onwards. Even the most optimistic Reds fan would be thrilled if a place in the last 16 was secure by the time they face PSG in the French capital on November 28, and Group C could go down to the wire.

I believe Liverpool will go through to the last 16, but the difficulty of their group could have a major influence on the title race at home.

That said, if the Reds won their first title in 29 years and came up short in Europe, I doubt if you’ll hear anyone complaining at Anfield.

Likewise, if City won the Champions League but finished second in the title race, nobody would classify that as failure.

Where the sands might start shifting in public opinion, for Klopp and Guardiola, would be if their clubs missed out on both major prizes.