Liverpool have been dealt a major blow for this upcoming season as the Reds now face a nightmare run of fixtures after their Champions League fate was revealed which includes facing Real Madrid and Manchester City in back-to-back ties.

The Arne Slot era couldn't have started any better with the Reds claiming two wins from their opening two Premier League ties.

However Liverpool fans will soon learn what the Dutch head coach is really made off as they will face a period of brutal heavyweight fixtures which will test the quality and depth of their squad.

The difficult run begins with an away trip to Italian giants AC Milan on September 17 in the Champions League, before they return to Anfield where they will meet another Italian side, this time Bologna on October 2.

The heat only intensifies from there as a few more weeks down the line Arne Slot's men will come up against Chelsea, RB Leipzig and Arsenal all within a nine day period.

Liverpool have been dealt a major blow for this upcoming season

They'll begin this difficult run by hosting Enzo Maresca's Blues on October 19, before venturing to Germany just four days later on October 23 where they will face RB Leipzig.

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They will finish this difficult run of games in London where they will face title rivals Arsenal on October 27 at the Emirates. 

That isn't the end however, the Red's will then welcome former player Xabi Alonso back to Anfield when they face his Bayer Leverkusen side on November 5 just three days after they will have hosted Unai Emery's Aston Villa.

Their bad fortunes continue from there. 

Their next home Champions League game after that is against current champions Real Madrid on November 27, which will then be closely followed with a titanic Premier League top of the table clash against Manchester City on November 30.

Both these ties will take place at Anfield, which is the one positive to take away from the brutal back to back games.

There is no rest for the wicked however as the very next week they will travel to Newcastle on December 4 before coming up against familiar foes Everton in the Merseyside derby three days later on December 7.

And as if those two Premier League affairs weren't bad enough, a Champions League clash has also been thrown into the mix.

Just 72 hours after coming up against Everton, the Reds will travel to Spain to face Girona on December 10. 

This year's Champions League has been given a drastic makeover.

This year's competition will feature more teams, more games and a whole new format for the upcoming season and fans won't have to wait much longer to see the new layout in action.

The first change to this season's Champions League will see 36 teams take part in the competition instead of 32.

The expansion of the League by adding four extra teams has forced UEFA to reformat how the group stage works. This year's group stage competition will consist of a single league table instead of the familiar eight groups of four teams each.

Although the new format has been developed into a League style table, each team will only play eight games, coming up against a new side each time.

The sides will play an equal amount of games at home and away, meaning they will play four home and four away.

This means that this seasons teams will play two games more than they played in last year's competition.

Adding more playing minutes to an already stacked season.