He Lyceum already knows its way in the new edition of the Champions. The green and whites were placed in group B and will face Benfica, Oliveirense, Trissino and two more rivals who will emerge from the previous qualifiers. The team from Coruña will start the competition, which debuts in a format with two groups of six teams, on November 21 on the Italian team’s court. They will close the phase at home, also against the transalpines.
The Champions League features a new format For the 2024/25 season, Liceo was almost forced to go through the preliminary phase. The Greens were finally among the eight teams qualified for the new group stage, in which The top four teams in a ten-day group stage will advance to the quarter-finals..
The Greens will therefore kick off the competition in Italy against Trissino on 21 November. Oliveirense, runners-up in Europe last season, will be the first team to visit Riazor on 28 November. Benfica will arrive at the Palacio on the fifth matchday.
Two of the rivals that the Coruña team will face in this edition are still to be known, and will be known in the preliminary phase that will be held between November 1 and 3. The first of them will come from the group that includes the Calafellhe Diessbach Swiss and the Portuguese Valongo y Riba d’Ave. The second will be the one that prevails between the Take Portuguese, the Sarzana Italian and the Dinan Quevert French.
In this edition, Liceo hopes to improve on its results from the last two editions, in which it was eliminated in the group stage and did not compete in the playoffs.
Group A has paired together the Barça and to Porto as top seeds, joined by Noia and Saint Omer by direct means. With no derby in sight, Liceo has also indirectly avoided facing the current European champion, Sportingwho will have to go through the preliminary phase. The Lisbon team will have to overcome the Barcelos and to The Vendée to defend their continental crown. The last place will be taken by the winner of the qualifying round that includes Reus, Voltrega, Follonica y in towns.
“Exciting” format
The Liceo coach, John Cupwas satisfied after learning about the path the team will have to take in this new edition of the Champions League. “We are very excited about this format”said the coach from Coruña after the draw. Aware that he will face “very good” clubs, Copa looks to the continental competition with “renewed hopes”. “We will try to have a good league to try to reach the quarter-finals,” he said.
The Champions League has been a challenge for Liceo in recent years and Juan Copa wants to turn this around. “We weren’t having much luck in the groups”he admitted, hoping that the new competition format will allow them to qualify again for a knockout round.
