Liverpool will be prevented from hosting Real Madrid during the Champions League league phase this season after the clubs reached the point at which UEFA officially requires them to play somewhere else.

The two sides have been drawn against each other at Anfield during both seasons of the competition’s expanded format. Liverpool won 2–0 in November 2024 before recording another home victory, this time 1–0, almost 12 months later.

UEFA’s draw conditions state that the same fixture cannot take place with the same home team for three consecutive league phases. Liverpool and Madrid can therefore be paired together again, but only if the computer responsible for Thursday’s draw sends Andoni Iraola’s side to the Bernabéu.

The regulation was introduced to create greater variety under the 36-team league format, in which every club faces eight different opponents. Despite the number of available combinations, UEFA considered it necessary to prepare for the possibility that two teams might continue being directed towards the same stadium.

Arsenal are subject to the same restriction and cannot be drawn away to Inter Milan after visiting San Siro in each of the previous two league phases.

The condition does not apply during the knockout rounds, where Liverpool and Madrid remain free to extend a European rivalry that has produced eight meetings since 2018.

UEFA has therefore not concluded that the clubs have seen too much of each other. It has only decided that Liverpool have hosted often enough.