The 2024 format change for the UEFA Champions League meant that 36 -- rather than 32 -- teams would compete in a league phase, with the old group stage abolished.
It meant that there would be no potential group of death, but it did mean that every team would play seven different opponents, with more high-profile ties on the football calendar throughout autumn and winter.
Since the league phase's inception, Liverpool have twice faced Real Madrid at Anfield, but a UEFA rule means it won't be allowed to happen a third time.
While Liverpool could be drawn to play Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, repeat fixtures cannot be drawn three years in a row.
Paragraph 16.03 of last season's UEFA Champions League regulations read: "The UEFA Club Competitions Committee has determined an additional condition that may be applicable to the UEFA Champions League draw for the 2026/27 season, deciding that any individual fixture between the same two teams may not be repeated in the same competition with the same home team for three consecutive seasons.
"This means that if any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season."
