PSG Draws Barcelona, Man City In Champions League Group Stage
PSG Draws Barcelona, Man City In Champions League Group Stage
Paris Saint-Germain, chasing a third straight Champions League campaign as reigning champion, will host Manchester City and travel to Barcelona after UEFA conducted the 36-team main-phase draw Thursday. The French club's eight-game slate also includes a home fixture against Aston Villa and an away trip to newcomer Como, coached by Cesc Fabregas.
PSG has won its last three visits to Barcelona, including a 2-1 league-phase victory last October, a reversal of fortune since the 6-1 defeat in March 2017 known as the "Remontada." Real Madrid will face Inter Milan at home and travel to Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk, with the Ukrainian club again hosting home matches at Stamford Bridge, the former stage of Madrid coach José Mourinho's two Chelsea title-winning spells. Barcelona will host Manchester City, Europa League winner Villa and Como, and make a long trip to Azerbaijan to face debutant Sabah in Baku. bet on beach volleyball
Arsenal, last season's beaten finalist, will host Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Sabah while traveling to Bayern Munich. Bayern also faces Manchester United, Norwegian sides Bodø/Glimt and Viking, and Atletico Madrid, whose Metropolitano Stadium will stage next May's final. Liverpool drew Inter Milan and Fenerbahce among its away fixtures, along with a home date against Atletico, which beat Liverpool 3-2 at Anfield last September. Four clubs - Atletico, Dortmund, Lille and LASK - must travel inside the Arctic Circle to play Bodø/Glimt on artificial turf, with one trip scheduled for January.
Four teams make their Champions League debuts this season: Como, LASK of Austria, Norway's Viking, and Azerbaijani champion Sabah, founded in 2017. Sabah's coach, Valdas Dambrauskas, funded his coaching studies in England using winnings from a stint on the Lithuanian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." Former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder Yaya Touré, now managing Slovak champion Slovan Bratislava, became the first African coach to guide a team into the competition's main phase after Slovan won its qualifying playoff Wednesday; Slovan will visit PSG and host Inter Milan.
UEFA's draw system assigned each club four home and four away fixtures, drawing two opponents from each of four seeding pots based on five-year European rankings, with teams barred from facing clubs from their own country. The opening round runs September 8-10, with six rounds completed by December before the competition resumes in January and concludes its league phase on January 27. The top eight finishers advance directly to the round of 16 in March; teams ranked ninth through 24th enter a knockout playoff in February for the remaining spots, while those from 25th to 36th are eliminated. UEFA said the 36 participating clubs will share prize money of approximately 2.5 billion euros, or $2.9 billion.
