Liverpool have now discovered who they will face in the last 16 of the Champions League.
The Reds, who finished second in their group behind Napoli, must get past their conquerors in last season's final, Real Madrid, in order to book themselves a slot in the quarter finals and bank a lucrative prize pot.
Financially the Reds have earned £33.7m from their performances in the competition alone this season, not including their slice of the TV market pool and co-efficient payments .
LIVE: Champions League draw reaction as Liverpool discover last 16 opponents
Qualification for the group stage, something the Reds achieved automatically due to their second placed finish in the Premier League last season, delivered £13.5m from the off, with £2.4m arriving with each victory, of which there were five after they put group winners Napoli to the sword 2-0 at Anfield last week. Added to that is the £8.2m that was achieved through qualification for the last 16.
Including participation fees in the group stage through qualification, their UEFA co-efficient payments and their share of the TV market pool, Liverpool have already booked €82m (£71.4m) from this competition and progressing past Real Madrid would put them well on course to achieve last season's feat of more than £100m accrued through their participation in European football's most prestigious club tournament.
Should Jurgen Klopp's men find a way past Real Madrid over two legs, the games to be played post World Cup in February and March, then they would add another £9.1m to that figure. Winners of the quarter final bag £10.7m, finalists claim £13.3m while winners get another £3.8m meaning that a run to the final, before any co-efficients or market pool money is added stands at £59m.
With Liverpool in need of investment in the first team in the coming transfer windows, and owners Fenway Sports Group under pressure to deliver on that front, progression in the Champions League can significantly lighten the load on the balance sheet.
The Reds haven't yet published their financial accounts for the 2021/22 period, with those figures due in early 2023, although analysts at respected football business website Off The Pitch have predicted that the Reds will post record revenues of £602m for the accounting period, a figure aided in no small part by another successful run in the Champions League last season where they were beaten by Real Madrid 1-0 in the final in Paris.
When Liverpool won the competition for a sixth time in 2019 their journey to trophy that culminated in victory over Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid saw them book around £113m in revenues related to their success.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LAST 16 DRAW: RB Leipzig v Manchester City, Club Brugge v Benfica, Liverpool v Real Madrid, AC Milan v Tottenham Hotspur, Eintracht Frankfurt v Napoli, Borussia Dortmund v Chelsea, Inter Milan v Porto, Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich.
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