Manchester City have been drawn at home to Inter Milan and away to Paris Saint-Germain as part of the new-look league phase to the Champions League that UEFA hopes will provide a more exciting first stage of the competition.
At the draw in Monte Carlo, the revamped 36-team competition threw up a showdown between City and Inter, the side they beat to finally lift the trophy in 2023. The new format sees all 36 teams forming a single league, with each entrant playing four home games and four away.
City were the first team pulled out by former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Cristiano Ronaldo was the man then tasked with pushing a large button on the desk in front of him to allocate eight computer-generated opponents.
Juventus, Club Brugge, Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, Sparta Prague and Slovan Bratislava are their other six opponents.
Liverpool were the next British team pulled out and landed a home fixture against holders Real Madrid. Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, AC Milan, Lille, PSV Eindhoven, Bologna and Girona made up their schedule.
Meanwhile, Arsenal were drawn out of pot two already knowing they would face PSG, Atalanta and Inter Milan. The rest of their opponents came out as Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb, Sporting Lisbon, Monaco and Girona.
Aston Villa – former European champions having lifted the European Cup in 1982 – have been given a mouth-watering home encounter with Bayern Munich.
Unai Emery’s side will also host Juventus as they return to the Champions League, ending a run of 41 years without playing in European football’s premier competition, as well as hosting Scottish champions Celtic. Their other five fixtures will be against Leizpig, Club Brugge, Young Boys, Bologna and Monaco.
As well as Villa, Celtic – residing in Pot Three – will face last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig, Club Brugge, Atalanta, Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb and Slovan Bratislava.
How the new format will work
For the new season, the Champions League has expanded from 32 to 36 teams, a transformation from the traditional group stage to a single league phase including all participating teams.
Each team has been drawn against two different teams from each pot, playing one team at home and one away. Teams will play eight matches against eight different teams.
Every club will now be guaranteed a minimum of eight league-stage games against eight different opponents (four home games, four away) rather than the previous six matches against three teams, played on a home-and-away basis.
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the knockout stages, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off to secure a place in the last 16 of the competition.
Teams ranked 25-36 are eliminated from all competitions.
