Champions League draw: Liverpool to host Real Madrid in new format

Liverpool have been drawn to face Actual Madrid as a part of the Champions League’s revamped 36-team league format, whereas Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick will return to Germany to face his former employers Bayern Munich.

Bayern will face Barça within the competitors for the third time prior to now 4 seasons. The German membership has gained the previous six conferences, together with an 8-2 quarterfinal victory on its option to lifting the Champions League in 2020 beneath Flick.

The draw, which was performed by a mixture of Gianluigi Buffon, Cristiano Ronaldo and UEFA’s supercomputer, additionally produced heavyweight clashes together with Manchester Metropolis towards Paris Saint-Germain and a repeat of final 12 months’s closing: Borussia Dortmund vs. Madrid.

Arsenal managed to keep away from among the most daunting groups from Pot 1 as they have been drawn to play towards PSG and Inter Milan. Aston Villa will face Bayern for the primary time since they beat the Bundesliga giants within the 1982 European Cup closing.

In addition to internet hosting Actual Madrid, Liverpool can even be reunited with former midfielder Xabi Alonso when he takes his Bayer Leverkusen crew to Anfield. Alonso was closely linked with the supervisor’s job at Liverpool after Jürgen Klopp’s shock announcement in January that he can be resigning from the function.

Within the competitors’s new system, every crew will play eight video games earlier than the knockouts — two greater than earlier years — with the ultimate spherical of matches going down on Jan. 29.

Every crew was drawn towards eight totally different opponents — 4 matches at residence, and 4 away — two from every of the 4 seeded pots.

Groups from the identical league couldn’t be drawn towards one another, and every membership can play not more than two groups from one nation.

The highest eight groups will progress on to the spherical of 16. Groups ending between ninth and twenty fourth place will advance to a knockout playoff stage, whereas the underside 12 groups will probably be eradicated.

The dates, occasions and order of every crew’s fixtures will probably be introduced Saturday.

Champions League draw

Manchester Metropolis: Inter Milan (H), PSG (A), Membership Brugge (H), Juventus (A), Feyenoord (H), Sporting Lisbon (A), Sparta Prague (H), Slovan Bratislava (A)

Arsenal: PSG (H), Inter Milan (A), Shakhtar Donetsk (H), Atalanta (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Sporting Lisbon (A), Monaco (H), Girona (A)

Liverpool: Actual Madrid (H), RB Leipzig (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), AC Milan (A), Lille (H), PSV (A), Bologna (H), Girona (A)

Aston Villa: Bayern Munich (H), RB Leipzig (A), Juventus (H), Membership Brugge (A), Celtic (H), Younger Boys (A), Bologna (H), Monaco (A)

Actual Madrid: Dortmund (H), Liverpool (A), AC Milan (H), Atalanta (A), Salzburg (H), Lille (A), Stuttgart (H), Brest (A)

Barcelona: Bayern Munich (H), Dortmund (A), Atalanta (H), Benfica (A), Younger Boys (H), Pink Star Belgrade (A), Brest (H), Monaco (A)

Atlético Madrid: RB Leipzig (H), PSG (A), Bayer Leverkusen (H), Benfica (A), Lille (H), RB Salzburg (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Sparta Prague (A)

Bayern Munich: PSG (H), Barcelona (A), Benfica (H), Shakhtar Donetsk (A), Dinamo Zagreb (H), Feyenoord (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Aston Villa (A)

Bayer Leverkusen: Inter Milan (H), Liverpool (A), Atlético Madrid (A), AC Milan (H), RB Salzburg (H), Feyenoord (A), Sparta Prague (H), Brest (A)

Borussia Dortmund: Barcelona (H), Actual Madrid (A), Shakhtar Donetsk (H), Membership Brugge (A), Celtic (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Sturm Graz (H), Bologna (A)

Inter Milan: RB Leipzig (H), Man Metropolis (A), Arsenal (H), Leverkusen (A), Pink Star Belgrade (H), Younger Boys (A), Monaco (H), Sparta Prague (A)

AC Milan: Liverpool (H), Actual Madrid (A), Membership Brugge (H), Bayer Leverkusen (A), Pink Star Belgrade (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Girona (H), Slovan Bratislava (A)

Juventus: Man Metropolis (H), RB Leipzig (A), Benfica (H), Membership Brugge (A), PSV (H), Lille (A), Stuttgart (H), Aston Villa (A)

Paris Saint-Germain: Man Metropolis (H), Bayern Munich (A), Atlético Madrid (H), Arsenal (A), PSV (H), RB Salzburg (A), Girona (H), Stuttgart (A)

Celtic: RB Leipzig (H), Borussia Dortmund (A), Membership Brugge (H), Atalanta (A), Younger Boys (H), Dinamo Zagreb (A), Slovan Bratislava (H), Aston Villa (A)