Champions League draw: Messi and Ronaldo to renew rivalry
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will renew their rivalry.
Liverpool will take on Ajax, Atalanta and Midtjylland in the group stages of the Champions League, where Barcelona will meet Juventus following Thursday’s draw in Geneva.
The Premier League champions, who have won the European Cup six times, were one of the eight top seeds and went into Group D.
European heavyweights Barca, thrashed 8-2 by eventual champions Bayern Munich in last season’s one-off semi-finals, were drawn together with Juve in Group G – which will see Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo renew their rivalry. Also in that group are Dynamo Kyiv and Ferencvaros of Hungary.
Manchester City have been drawn alongside Porto, Olympiacos and Marseille in Group C.
Manchester United are in Group H, where they will take on last season’s runners-up Paris St Germain as well as RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir.
In Group E, Chelsea have been drawn alongside Europa League winners Sevilla, Krasnodar and Rennes Holders Bayern are in Group A along with Atletico Madrid, Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moscow.
Group B will see Real Madrid, who hold a record 13 European Cup titles, face Inter Milan, Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Monchengladbach.
Zenit St Petersburg are top seeds in Group F, where they will take on Borussia Dortmund, Lazio and Club Brugge.
The opening Champions League group fixtures will take place on October 20 and 21, with with the scheduling set to be confirmed on Friday evening.
The 2021 Champions League final is due to be held at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul on May 29.
During the ceremony, Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne was named Champions League men’s midfielder of the season.
“It’s really nice. In the Champions League you play against the best players in world and I want to compete with them,” the Belgium international said in a broadcast on the UEFA website.
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