Manchester City have been handed the trickiest match-up among the four English teams involved in this season’s Champions League group stages, although Liverpool may well feel they have the toughest group.
Thursday’s draw saw City placed with Paris Saint-Germain in Group A, with RB Leipzig and Club Brugge joining the two sides.
Meanwhile, Liverpool were drawn with Atletico Madrid in Group B, with the prospect of reaching the knockouts made trickier when Porto and AC Milan were also named in the group.
Holders Chelsea will face Juventus in Group H, as well as Zenit and Malmo.
Manchester United take on their Europa League final conquerors Villarreal in Group F, plus Atalanta and Young Boys.
Champions League groups in full
Group A: Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Club Brugge
Group B: Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Porto, AC Milan
Group C: Sporting Lisbon, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, Besiktas
Group D: Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sherrif Tiraspol
Group E: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Benfica, Dynamo Kyiv
Group F: Villarreal, Manchester United, Atalanta, Young Boys
Group G: Lille, Sevilla, Salzburg, Wolfsburg
Group H: Chelsea, Juventus, Zenit, Malmo
How will the English clubs fare?
Holders Chelsea and Premier League champions Manchester City always knew a tough opponent was coming given Pot Two featured Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, PSG, Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund – as well as Liverpool and United.
And as the draw as made it felt as though this meeting was almost inevitable, with City set for two blockbuster showdowns against PSG in encounters that will feature Lionel Messi, Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish – and perhaps even Cristiano Ronaldo.
The presence of RB Leipzig will not make this an easy group, but following the Super League’s collapse, tongues will be wagging at Uefa with 180 minutes of City-PSG guaranteed before Christmas.
Chelsea still face a stern test in Juventus, but will likely be the happier of the two English sides in Pot One, while – bar Bayern Munich – Liverpool could hardly have asked for a trickier opponent.
Atletico dumped Liverpool out of the Champions League in 2020, and Jurgen Klopp will have to start formulating a plan as to how he can get the better of Diego Simeone.
Solve that, and Liverpool will hope that means they finish top, but Porto and AC Milan – Champions League winners this century – make this a hard group to navigate.
Meanwhile, for United it is a reunion with Villarreal, the side who beat them in the Europa League final on penalties earlier this year. Revenge will be on the mind, but it will be a group Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expects to top, even though Atalanta also pose as a difficult challenge.
Champions League dates
Group-stage fixtures
- Matchday 1: 14/15 September
- Matchday 2: 28/29 September
- Matchday 3: 19/20 October
- Matchday 4: 2/3 November
- Matchday 5: 23/24 November
- Matchday 6: 7/8 December
Knockout stages
- Round of 16: 15/16/22/23 February & 8/9/15/16 March 2022
- Quarter-finals: 5/6 & 12/13 2022 April
- Semi-finals: 26/27 & 3/4 2022 April
- Final: 28 May 2022 (To be held in St Petersburg, Russia)
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2WwDJRD
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