And competition holders Real Madrid will also visit Merseyside as new Reds boss Arne Slot was handed a tough assignment in the draw in Monaco on Thursday evening.
In the revamped 36-team league stage, Liverpool will face four different teams at home and another four away.
As well as entertaining Leverkusen and Real Madrid, the Reds will also host French side Lille and Italian team Bologna. They are away at another Serie A outfit in AC Milan and also have trips to take on RB Leipzig of Germany, Holland’s PSV Eindhoven and Spanish side Girona.
The visit of Bundesliga champions Leverkusen, though, is arguably the standout fixture, with Liverpool having been linked with an interest earlier this year in their former midfielder Alonso succeeding Jurgen Klopp until the Spaniard opted to stay at the German side and the Reds turned their attentions to Slot. Liverpool last faced Leverkusen in 2005 en route to winning the Champions League.
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Real Madrid, meanwhile, have ended Liverpool’s Champions League hopes in four of the last six times they have been in the competition, including beating the Reds in the final in 2018 and 2022.
Of the other two home opponents, the Reds have been drawn against Lille – who finished fourth in Ligue Un last season – once previously in the 2010 Europa League but have never faced Bologna in a competitive match. The Italians finished fifth in Serie A last term.
From the away fixtures, Liverpool have also yet to officially face Girona, who were third in La Liga last campaign. The Reds were most recently at Serie A runners-up AC Milan when winning 2-1 in the 2021/22 Champions League group stage, and were last at Dutch title winners PSV in December 2008.
Leipzig, who finished fourth in the Bundesliga, were beaten by Liverpool in the Champions League round of 16 in 2020/21.
The dates for the fixtures will be confirmed on Saturday to ensure no calendar clashes with teams in the Europa League and Europa Conference League playing in the same cities. The extra final two games will be played in late January.
The top eight teams in the 36-strong league table automatically qualify for the Champions League knockout stages with the next 16 facing a two-legged play-off to proceed, with games dependent on league position – ninth v 24th, 10th v 23rd and so on.
The competition then continues as normal from the last 16 onwards as a knockout. The bottom 12 teams in the league are eliminated from European qualification altogether.
