Jurgen Klopp’s side are seeded for the draw which will take place in Nyon this morning at 11am.
They could face French outfit Nice, German side Hoffenheim, Turkish club Istanbul Basaksehir, Young Boys from Switzerland or Romania’s Steaua Bucharest.
But a meeting with Balotelli’s Nice would be the eye-catching tie as they look to secure a spot in the Champions League group stages.
Balotelli, 26, left the Reds last summer on a free just two years after they spent £16m to bring him from AC Milan.
He scored just two goals and spent his last season on loan back at AC Milan.
Balotelli said Klopp spoke to him just once since the German arrived at Anfield in 2015 and that joining Liverpool was the “worst mistake of his life”.
So it could be an uncomfortable meeting if Liverpool and Nice are drawn together today.
While Balotelli’s face did not fit at Liverpool Klopp is determined to keep Philippe Coutinho out of the clutches of Barcelona,
But he does not want his team to rely on the Brazil ace after Liverpool’s season crumbled when Coutinho and Sadio Mane missed periods of the campaign.
“We need to be independent of one or two players,” he said. “We still have to have a style, a way of playing and if we need to play completely differently we have to have a way.”
While Klopp has so far failed to sign the central defender and midfielder he wants this summer, he will have competition in other areas.
“If we stay together like this there will be a few hard decisions because they can’t start all together,” he said.
“Then we have to see how this works. Be angry at me, no problem, but stay confident, that is important, then three days there is another game so let’s be there again.”
