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The full draw for the Champions League league phase. Photograph: Valéry Hache/AFP/Getty Images
Key events
Two of the Premier League sides will welcome Azerbaijan’s Sabah, who were founded only in 2017. Their coach also has an interesting back story. This from Reuters:
Sabah coach Valdas Dambrauskas is already making headlines for his curious origin story in soccer. The money he won as a young contestant on TV quiz show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” in his native Lithuania funded a trip to study coaching in England.
A few thoughts away from the obvious Pot One v Pot One ties
Manchester City: a potential return to the Etihad for Kevin De Bruyne with Napoli.
Manchester United: a trip to northern Italy to face Cesc Fábregas’s Como.
What a draw for Sabah: Barcelona, Arsenal, Dortmund, Man Utd, Napoli …
Premier League teams at a glance
Manchester City: PSG (h), Barcelona (a), Sporting (h), Porto (a), Napoli (h), Leipzig (a), AEK (h) and Lens (a).
Liverpool: Atletico Madrid (h), Inter (a), Porto (h), Club Brugge (a), Villarreal (h), Fenerbahce (a), Lens (h) and Lask (a).
Arsenal: Real Madrid (h), Bayern Munich (a), Borussia Dortmund (h), Real Betis (a), Lille (h), Napoli (a), Sabah (h) and Slavia Prague (a).
Aston Villa: PSG (h), Barcelona (a), Dortmund (h), Club Brugge (a), Fenerbahce (h), Galatasaray (a), Viking (h) and Slavia Prague (a).
Manchester United: Bayern (h), Atletico (a), Roma (h), Sporting (a), Leipzig (h), Villarreal (a), Sabah (h) and Como (a).
And that’s that. We’ll take a deep breath and take a look at the big ties.
Viking: Bayern, Atleti, PSV, Aston Villa, Feyenoord, Napoli, Sabah and Stuttgart.
AEK Athens: Real, Man City, Roma, Dortmund, Galatasaray, Shakhyar, Lask and Como.
Bratislava: Inter, PSG, Betis, Roma, Shakhtar, Lille, Stuttgart and Lask.
Stuttgart: Atletico, Inter, Brugge, PSV, Lille, Galatasaray, Viking, Bratislava.
Como: PSG, Barcelona, Man Utd, Real Betis, Leipzig, Feyenoord, AEK Athens and Lens.
Lask: Liverpool, Real Madrid, Porto, Sporting, Fenerbahce, Bodo/Glimt, Bratislava and AEK Athens.
Lens: Man City, Liverpool, Sporting, Brugge, Bodo/Glimt, Leipzig, Como and Slavia Prague.
Slavia Prague: Arsenal, Bayern, Aston Villa, Porto, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Lens, Sabah.
Sabah: Barcelona, Arsenal, Dortmund, Man Utd, Napoli, Villarreal, Slavia Prague, Viking.
One more pot to go, and six of these teams’ fixtures are already set.
Napoli: Arsenal, Man City, Brugge, Porto, Bodo/Glimt, Villarreal, Viking and Sabah.
Lille: Bayern, Arsenal, Betis, Roma, Galatasaray, Bodo/Glimt, Bratislava and Stuttgart.
Fenerbahce: Liverpool, Atletico, Roma, Aston Villa, Villarreal, Shakhtar, Slavia Prague, Lask.
Feyenoord: Inter, Barcelona, Porto, Real Betis, Leipzig, Galatasaray, Como and Viking.
Galatasaray: Barcelona, PSG, Aston Villa, Sporting, Feyenoord, Lille, Stuttgart, AEK Athens.
Bodø/Glimt: Atlético, Bayern, Dortmund, Brugge, Lille, Napoli, Lask, Lens.
RB Leipzig: Man City, Real Madrid, PSV, Man Utd, Shakhtar, Feyenoord, Lens, Como.
Time for Pot Three then. (Home, away, home, away etc)
Shakhtar Donetsk: Real Madrid, Inter, Sporting, PSV, Fenerbahce, Leipzig, AEK Athens and Bratislava.
Villarreal: PSG, Liverpool, Man Utd, Dortmund, Napoli, Fenerbahce, Sabah, Slavia Prague.
Two pots down, two to go! I’d say Manchester United got a slightly kinder draw than Villa there.
Sporting face: Barcelona, Man City, Man Utd, Roma, Galatasaray, Shakhtar, Lask and Lens.
PSV face: Atlético, Real Madrid, Brugge, Porto, Shakhtar, Leipzig, Stuttgart and Viking.
Manchester United face Bayern and Atlético
Manchester United are the fifth English team out of the hat. They play Bayern (h), Atletico (a), Roma, Sporting, Leipzig, Villarreal, Sabah and Como.
It’s Roma’s turn. They’ll play Real Madrid, PSG, Sporting, Man Utd, Lille, Fenerbahce, Bratislava and AEK.
Next: Real Betis. Arsenal (h), Bayern (a), Porto, Dortmund, Feyenoord, Lille, Como and Bratislava for them.
Aston Villa face PSG and Barcelona
Aston Villa are next. PSG, Barcelona, Dortmund, Club Brugge, Fenebahce, Galatasaray, Viking and Slavia Prague.
Porto are next out the bag. They’ll play Man City (h), Liverpool (a), PSV, Betis, Napoli, Feyenoord, Slavia Prague and Lask.
It’s Borussia Dortmund next. They play Inter (h), Arsenal (a), Real Betis, Aston Villa, Villarreal, Bodo/Glimt, AEK and Sabah.
Time for Pot Two. Club Brugge out first. Liverpool (h), Inter (a), Aston Villa (h), PSV (a), Bodo/Glimt (h), Napoli (a), Lens (h) and Stuttgart (a).
Bayern are the final team out of Pot One. They face Arsenal (h), Atletico (a), Betis (h), Man Utd (a), Bodo/Glimt (h), Lille (a), Slavia Prague (h) and Viking (a). So Bayern get a trip to Old Trafford.
Arsenal face Real Madrid and Bayern
Arsenal are out next. Real Madrid (h), Bayern (a), Dortmund (h), Betis (a), Lille (h), Napoli (a), Sabah (h) and Slavia Prague (a). Feels on the tough end of the spectrum.
Liverpool face Atlético Madrid and Inter
Liverpool are next up. They face: Atleti (h), Inter (a), Porto (h), Brugge (a), Villarreal (h), Fenerbahce (a), Lens (h) and Lask (a).
PSG are next. Barcelona (h), Man City (a), Roma (h), Aston Villa (a), Galatasaray (h), Villarreal (a), Bratislava (h) and Como (a).
Atlético Madrid are next out of the pot. They’ll play Bayern (h), Liverpool (a), Man Utd (h), PSV (a), Fenerbahce (h), Bodo/Glimt (a), Viking (h) and Stuttgart (a).
Next up: Barcelona.
These all go home then away then home then away by the way. Manchester City, PSG, Aston Villa, Sporting, Feyenoord, Galatasaray, Como, Sabah.
It’s Inter next.
Liverpool, Real Madrid, Club Brugge, Dortmund, Shakhtar, Feyenoord, Stuttgart and Slovan Bratislava.
Manchester City face PSG and Barcelona
Next up: Manchester City
They’ll play PSG (h), Barcelona (a), Sporting (h), Porto (a), Napoli (h), Leipzig (a), AEK (h) and Lens (a).
First out of the bag is Real Madrid.
They’ll face Inter (h), Arsenal (a), PSV (h), Roma (a), Leipzig (h), Shakhtar (a), Lask (h) and AEK Athens (a)
OK, here we go. Draw time. Four pots on the dais and Giorgio Marchetti, Uefa’s deputy general secretary, coming out to make sure things run smoothly.
Takes us back to the Champions League final in 2011, David. “2011 was an amazing year for me and the club!” That’s more like it!
Ceferin awkwardly exits the stage after a slightly stilted chat with Henry. The former Arsenal man is sticking around to help with the draw and David Villa is joining him!
Tell us about your memories of your first Champions League final with Arsenal Thierry! “Pain … it’s always something that will haunt me.” OK, keep it light …
The next award – the Uefa President’s Award – seems to be basically for whoever Uefa feels like giving an award to. It was Zlatan Ibrahimovic last year, it’s Thierry Henry this time. Alexi Lalas in 2027?
Ceferin dishes out a new award – the Respect Award – for fair play to Marquinhos, for his actions in the aftermath of PSG’s win over Arsenal in last season’s final when the Brazil defender comforted Gabriel Magalhães following his penalty miss in the shootout. He’s not in attendance, though, so PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi accepts the award on his behalf.
The worst six words you ever here at these shindigs: “But before we get to that …” So here comes Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin.
And we’re off! Uefa are kicking off proceedings in Monte Carlo with an operatic version of the Champions League anthem.
What’s the dream draw here for the Premier League teams? Inter and Atlético from pot one perhaps? Club Brugge and Betis from two, Lille and Feyenoord from three? Lask and Viking from four? And the nightmare? PSG, Barcelona, Dortmund, Sporting, Napoli, Galatasaray, Como, Lens maybe? To be fair, the pots do seem to be well structured – so there’s not a huge range between the best- and worst-case scenarios. And given English teams snagged five of the top eight places last year, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that the Premier League quintet are the ones the rest will want to avoid.
The pots and how it works
The draw is pretty straightforward. Each team is allocated eight opponents, with four home games and four away games. Two opponents are taken from each seeding pot and teams cannot meet a team from their own country.
Then we have the matches, played between September and January. Goals are scored, hearts are broken, stuff happens. When it’s all said and done, the top eight teams in the 36-team table go straight through to the last 16.
The 16 teams ranked ninth to 24 go into a playoff round, with the eight winners going through to the last 16. The bottom eight are eliminated and will be taunted and booed until our throats are sore.
Pot 1: Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter, Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid.
Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting Lisbon, Aston Villa, Porto, Manchester United, Club Brugge, Real Betis, PSV.
Pot 3: Feyenoord, Lille, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Bodø/Glimt.
Pot 4: Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart, AEK Athens, Lask, Como, Lens, Viking, Sabah.
Preamble
Hello all and welcome to live coverage of the league phase draw for this season’s Champions League. The 36 teams – 36! – will discover their various opponents, home and away and there are sure to be some mouthwatering ties thrown up.
It’ll be the third edition of the Champions League in the One Big Group format, which seemed unwieldy and bloated at first but has been … OK? The final matchday has brought a good amount of drama for the teams scrambling for 24th, which is something. Though the importance of finishing in the top eight is somewhat undercut by the fact that Paris Saint-Germain have won both tournaments since the advent of this format having finished 15th and 11th in the league phase.
Things kick off in Monte Carlo at 5pm BST. Before we get to all that, though, there has already been some big news out of Uefa on Thursday:
Uefa is preparing to make a criminal complaint against Gianni Infantino for alleged “criminal mismanagement” in connection with his failed Fifa Forward Enterprise plan and has applied for the release of documents related to its conception.
In an explosive escalation of the war engulfing football’s governing bodies, Uefa has made separate applications in the United States for information, including from Fifa.
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