Strong draw in the UEFA Champions League: Paris clashes with Barcelona, and Madrid faces a tough match against Arsenal
The draw for the UEFA Champions League group stage, held in Monaco, produced a strong set of fixtures, with the top-tier clubs’ group-stage matchups as follows:
Paris Saint-Germain, the defending champions, will host Barcelona, travel to Manchester City, and host Roma. They will also travel to Aston Villa, host Galatasaray, travel to Villarreal, host Partizani, and travel to Como.
Arsenal, runners-up in the previous edition, will host Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund at home, while traveling to face Bayern Munich, Real Betis, Lille, Napoli, Sabah, and Slavia Prague.
Real Madrid will face Inter Milan at home, Arsenal away, PSV Eindhoven at home, Roma away, RB Leipzig in Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk away, LASK at home, and their host club, AEK Athens.
Manchester City will also play eight matches, facing defending champions Paris Saint-Germain at home in Manchester, Barcelona away, Sporting CP at home, and traveling to face Porto. They will host Napoli at the Etihad Stadium, travel to RB Leipzig, host AEK Athens, and travel to Ljungskile.
Meanwhile, Barcelona will host Manchester City, travel to face Paris Saint-Germain, host Aston Villa, travel to face Sporting CP, host Feyenoord, travel to face Galatasaray, host Como, and travel to play Sabah.
In the same vein, Bayern Munich will face Arsenal in Germany, travel to face Atlético Madrid, host Real Betis, travel to face Manchester United, host Bodø/Glimt, travel to Lille, host Slavia Prague, and travel to Viking.
Liverpool will host Atlético Madrid, travel to face Inter Milan, host Porto, travel to face Club Brugge, host Villarreal, travel to face Fenerbahçe, face Ljungskile at home, and travel to face LASK.
36 teams in the league phase
The league phase will feature 36 teams, led by Paris Saint-Germain, winners of the Champions League in the last two editions, and Arsenal, runners-up in the previous season. It also includes Europe’s elite: Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atlético Madrid from Spain; Liverpool, Manchester City, and Manchester United from England; Germany’s powerhouse Bayern Munich; and Italy’s Inter Milan.
The draw included several restrictions: teams from the same national association cannot face each other in the league phase; no team can play more than two opponents from the same country; and no team will face the same opponent at the same venue for three consecutive seasons.
