Arne Slot has said finishing top of the group does not matter in the new Champions League format, which will generate at least €55.945m (£47m) in prize money for Liverpool this season.

Slot has taken the ­opportunity ­Liverpool’s qualification for the last 16 has presented and ­omitted several regulars from the final group game at PSV Eindhoven. Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Ryan ­Gravenberch, who have started all seven ­Champions League wins this season, are among those rested along with Alisson, Trent ­Alexander-Arnold, ­Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Díaz. Trent ­Kone-Doherty, an 18-year-old ­forward, midfielders Isaac Mabaya and Kieran Morrison, and the defender Amara Nallo are among the 21-man ­travelling squad.

“It has taken me a while to ­understand this new format,” said the Liverpool head coach: “But I’m now 100% sure it doesn’t matter if you end up first or second because we are guaranteed to play the team that is 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th, and then it’s down to the draw. We can’t drop to third. It has no impact on the league table but we will be trying to win.

“A wise man once said to me he’s never seen anything good come from losing a game. Thirteen or 14 ­players have mostly shared the playing time so it will also be good to get other players into a game rhythm because we will need them. The squad is a choice for the long term. Normally we work only on the game ahead but this is an exception. Today I am ­working on PSV and Bournemouth [who Liverpool visit in the Premier League on Saturday].”

The only uncertainty for Liverpool in the final round is whether they beat Barcelona to first or second place in the table. A top seeding position is already guaranteed for a side that can set a new record for Liverpool in the Champions League era of eight ­successive wins.

The stakes are far higher for PSV. Mathematically, the team that beat Slot’s Feyenoord to the Eredivsie title last season can finish in the top eight, the playoff places or in the ­elimination zone. “The chance that we don’t go through is still there, so we will go for at least one point,” said their head coach, Peter Bosz.

Home offers comfort. PSV have lost only one of their past 55 games at the Philips Stadion and that was on penalties to Feyenoord in the Dutch Super Cup.

Liverpool’s flawless form in the Champions League will enthuse their accountants as well as their head coach. Slot’s team have won €55.945m in Uefa prize money so far. That sum will rise by €2.375m to €58.52m should Liverpool claim top spot with a win in Eindhoven. The windfall consists of €18.62m for qualifying for the group stage, €2.1m per league victory, €2m for finishing in the top eight, at least €9.625m for their league ranking and €11m for reaching the last 16. Liverpool’s share of media rights sales, or the “value pillar” as Uefa now calls it, will also increase due to their league ranking and bring in another multimillion pound fortune.

The tie does have an emotional pull for Cody Gakpo, who came through the ranks at PSV before joining Liverpool in December 2022. Gakpo was also given the option to stay behind on Merseyside but said: “The coach knew I wanted to be part of the team playing here so I said I will go with them.”