Champions League draw: Celtic discover fate; Liverpool watching on

How was the draw made?

The layout of the draw sees two sides entering the stage from the Champions Path to be joined by the six victors from the third qualifying round (League Path).

The losers from both paths enter the group stage of the Europa League.

Celtic are one win away from this round and face Malmo (Sweden) OR MOL Vidi (Hungary) should they beat AEK Athens.

Liverpool fans will be keeping a keen eye on Portuguese giants Benfica.

If the Portuguese side are knocked out by either Fenerbahce or their play-off opponents, then the Reds move into Pot 2. Should the Eagles soar, then it’ll be Pot 3 and a tougher draw for last year’s finalists.

When will the games be played?

The two-legged ties will take place on August 21 and 22, with the second legs a week later on August 28 and 29.

The winners will go through to the group stage, with the draw taking place in Monaco on Thursday August 30.

Teams who do not qualify will go through to the draw for the Europa League, also held in Monaco but on August 31.

Champions League draw in full

League Path – draw

Benfica (Portugal) OR Fenerbahce (Turkey) V PAOK (Greece) OR Spartak Moscow (Russia)

Standard Liege (Belgium) OR Ajax (Netherlands) V Slavia Praha (Czech Republic) OR Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)

Champions Path – draw

Red Star Belgrade (Serbia) OR Spartak Tranava (Slovakia) V RB Salzburg (Austria) OR Shkendija (Republic of Macedonia)

Qarabag (Azerbaijan) OR BATE Borisov (Belarus) V PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)

Young Boys (Switzerland) V Astana (Kazhakstan) OR Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)

Malmo (Sweden) OR MOL Vidi (Hungary) V Celtic (Scotland) OR AEK Athens (Greece)