THE DRAW for this season’s Champions League group stage takes place in Monaco on Friday morning (2am AEST), with a repeat of last season’s final between Real Madrid and Liverpool among the potential mouth-watering match-ups.
Real won the trophy for the third season running — and 13th time overall — when they beat Liverpool 3-1 in Kiev in May, although their hopes of making it four in a row were hit by the subsequent departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and resignation of coach Zinedine Zidane.
With Julen Lopetegui now in charge, Real’s status as holders ensures they will be one of the top seeds in the draw, which will begin just after 6pm local time (2am Friday AEST) at the Grimaldi Forum in the glittering Mediterranean principality.
They will be joined by Europa League holders Atletico Madrid and the champions of the six highest-ranked domestic leagues in Europe.
None of the top seeds can play each other, so Real will not be drawn in the same group as Ronaldo’s new club Juventus. Teams from the same country will be kept apart in the group stage as well.
But Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, five-time European champions, are among the leading names not in Pot 1, along with fellow Premier League clubs Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.
They will all be hoping to avoid the biggest names in Pot 1, with Russian champions Lokomotiv Moscow the least imposing name of all the top seeds.
There are some fresh names appearing in this year’s group stage. Former winners Inter Milan make a notable return to the competition for the first time since 2011/12.
AEK Athens make their return after more than a decade, while Swiss champions Young Boys and German club Hoffenheim are in the group stage for the first time.
Australians including Trent Sainsbury (PSV) and Milos Degenek (Red Star Belgrade) will be hoping for favourable draws after their sides sealed qualification on Thursday.
The first round of group games will be played on September 19 and 20 (AEST), with the last matches on December 12 and 13 (AEST).
TEAMS BY POT
Pot 1: Real Madrid (ESP), Atletico Madrid (ESP), Barcelona (ESP), Bayern Munich (GER), Manchester City (ENG), Juventus (ITA), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS)
Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund (GER), Porto (POR), Manchester United (ENG), Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR), Napoli (ITA), Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), Roma (ITA), Benfica (POR)
Pot 3: Liverpool (ENG), PSV Eindhoven (NED), Schalke 04 (GER), Lyon (FRA), Monaco (FRA), Ajax (NED), CSKA Moscow (RUS), Valencia (ESP)
Pot 4: Club Brugge (BEL), Galatasaray (TUR), Young Boys (SUI), Inter Milan (ITA), Hoffenheim (GER), AEK Athens (GRE), Red Star Belgrade (SRB), Viktoria Plzen (CZE)
