The draw for this season’s Champions League league phase has been announced, with several Premier League clubs discovering their opponents. European champions Paris St-Germain are set to face Manchester City and Aston Villa, alongside five-time winners Barcelona.
Arsenal, the reigning Premier League champions, will host Real Madrid at Emirates Stadium and are scheduled for an away fixture against Bayern Munich. Last season, Arsenal were defeated by PSG in the final after a penalty shootout. Their schedule also includes matches against Borussia Dortmund, Real Betis, Lille, Napoli, Sabah, and Slavia Prague.
Manchester City and Aston Villa’s European Journey
Enzo Maresca‘s Manchester City will welcome PSG to Etihad Stadium and travel to Barcelona. This trip to Barcelona will mark a reunion with Rodri, a Spanish World Cup winner who joined the Nou Camp in a deal reported to be worth £65m this summer. City’s other opponents include Sporting, Porto, RB Leipzig, AEK Athens, and Lens.
Europa League winners Aston Villa are making a return to the competition. They are scheduled to host PSG and Borussia Dortmund, with away matches against Barcelona and Galatasaray. Unai Emery‘s team will also compete against Club Brugge, Fenerbahce, Viking, and Slavia Prague.
Galatasaray’s schedule includes home games against Barcelona, Aston Villa, Feyenoord, and Stuttgart, with away fixtures against PSG, Sporting, Lille, and AEK Athens. Fenerbahce will host Liverpool, Roma, and Villarreal, and will travel to Atletico Madrid, Aston Villa, Shakhtar, and LASK.
Liverpool and Manchester United’s Fixtures
Liverpool will host Atletico Madrid, Porto, Villarreal, and Lens. Their away matches are against Inter Milan, Club Brugge, Fenerbahce, and LASK. The draw has been described as a “favourable outcome” for Liverpool, though a trip to Inter, the Serie A champions, is considered a challenging fixture. Liverpool will also travel to the Belgian champions Club Brugge, Fenerbahce in Istanbul, and LASK in Linz, the winners of the Austrian Bundesliga.
Manchester United are returning to the competition after a two-year absence. They will face Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Roma, Sporting, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Sabah, and Como. Michael Carrick‘s team will have home games against Bayern, Roma, RB Leipzig, and Sabah, and will travel to Como, Atletico Madrid, Sporting, and Villarreal.
The first league-phase matches are scheduled for Tuesday, 8 September, with the final round of games taking place on 27 January 2027. The exact schedule for all eight match weeks is expected to be released on Saturday. This season’s final will be held in Madrid on 5 June.
In the league phase, each of the 36 participating teams will play eight different opponents, with four matches at home and four away. The top eight teams will automatically advance to the last 16. Teams finishing from ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off to secure a spot in the last 16. Teams ranked 25th or lower will be eliminated from the competition and will not proceed to the Europa League.
Last season, Arsenal, who were the eventual runners-up, topped the league phase standings with 24 points from eight wins. Liverpool finished third with 18 points, behind Bayern Munich in second place, while Tottenham secured fourth place with one point less. Chelsea and Manchester City also qualified directly for the last 16, finishing sixth and eighth respectively. Newcastle finished 12th. Chelsea, Manchester City, Newcastle, and Tottenham were eliminated in the last 16 last season. Liverpool were defeated in the quarter-finals by PSG, who also overcame Arsenal in the final to claim their second consecutive title.
Napoli’s fixtures include home games against Arsenal, Club Brugge, Bodo/Glimt, and Viking, and away matches against Manchester City, Porto, Villarreal, and Sabah.
Real Betis will play Arsenal at home and Bayern Munich away. Their schedule also includes home fixtures against Porto, Feyenoord, and Como, and away matches against Borussia Dortmund, Lille, and Slavia Bratislava.
Source: bbc.co.uk
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