Real Madrid and Manchester City will square off against each other in the Champions League this season, while title-holders Paris Saint-Germain were given a difficult list of opponents in Thursday’s draw, including Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Real will host Premier League champions Liverpool at Anfield in one of the most memorable games of the season, under Xabi Alonso’s leadership.
Liverpool, which finished first in the league phase last year before being beaten by PSG in the last 16, will also face Atletico Madrid, PSV Eindhoven, and Qarabag of Azerbaijan at home.
Additionally, they must travel to Galatasaray, Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille, and Inter Milan, the country’s champion.
Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Napoli, and Galatasaray will all welcome City, who won the Champions League in 2023, to the Etihad Stadium.
They’ll also travel to Monaco, Monaco, and Bodo/Glimt, a Norwegian newcomer, in addition to Real.
PSG will host Bayern Munich and travel to Barcelona, while the French side will face Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur at home.
Luis Enrique’s team won the Champions League last year, but only after struggling through some challenging games in the league phase, where they finished 15th overall.
They also face Atalanta at home, Leverkusen, Sporting Lisbon, and Athletic Bilbao away, so it’s not obvious which matches are going on this time.
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In the new format of Europe’s elite club competition, which was introduced last year, every team now plays eight games against eight different opponents. Instead of being divided into groups, all 36 clubs are combined into one league.
The top eight teams advance to the last 16, while those that place between ninth and 24th advance to the knockout round play-offs. The top 12 teams have been eliminated.
Barcelona will travel to both Chelsea and Newcastle, Arsenal will travel to Bayern and Atletico, and Inter Milan and Bilbao must also be on the radar.
Kazakh Kairat Almaty, who defeated Celtic on penalties in the play-off round, will face Real and travel to London to face Arsenal. At home, Pafos of Cyprus will face Bayern at Chelsea.
The first round of games will span three days, September 16 to 18, so UEFA is not anticipated to release specific fixture dates until Friday at the earliest. January 28 is the day before the eighth and final matchday.
The Champions League final will take place on May 30th, 2018, in Budapest, Hungary, with UEFA revealing on Thursday that the game will begin at 6:00 pm local time rather than the customary 9:00 pm.
Source: Channels TV
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