DRAW COMPLETE:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Copenhagen, Galatasaray
Group B: Sevilla, Arsenal, PSV, Lens
Group C: Napoli, Real Madrid, Braga, Union Berlin
Group D: Benfica, Inter Milan, Salzburg, Real Sociedad
Group E: Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid, Lazio, Celtic
Group F: PSG, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, Newcastle United
Group G: Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Crvena zvezda, Young Boys
Group H: Barcelona, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Royal Antwerp
That’s it from me! Some tasty match-ups there.
Pot 4 teams are drawn:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Copenhagen, Galatasaray
Group B: Sevilla, Arsenal, PSV, Lens
Group C: Napoli, Real Madrid, Braga, Union Berlin
Group D: Benfica, Inter Milan, Salzburg, Real Sociedad
Group E: Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid, Lazio, Celtic
Group F: PSG, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, Newcastle United
Group G: Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Crvena zvezda, Young Boys
Group H: Barcelona, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Royal Antwerp
So Newcastle United get the Group of Death, what a group that is! An audible groan in the room. Not the easiest group ever for Manchester United either. Quite a handy job for the European champions Man City. Celtic with quite an evenly matched group, if not particularly easy.
Pot 3 teams are drawn:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Copenhagen
Group B: Sevilla, Arsenal, PSV
Group C: Napoli, Real Madrid, Braga
Group D: Benfica, Inter Milan, Salzburg
Group E: Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid, Lazio
Group F: PSG, Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan
Group G: Manchester City, RB Leipzig, Crvena zvezda
Group H: Barcelona, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk
A generous enough group for City so far. Arsenal will not be too unhappy with theirs either. Group F looking the most ‘Group of Death’ like. Copenhagen join United’s group.
Pot 2 teams are drawn:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Manchester United
Group B: Sevilla, Arsenal
Group C: Napoli, Real Madrid
Group D: Benfica, Inter Milan
Group E: Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid
Group F: PSG, Borussia Dortmund
Group G: Manchester City, RB Leipzig
Group H: Barcelona, Porto
Decent draw for Arsenal, they draw Sevilla. Oh that’s a tough draw for United, Bayern Munich! A familiar draw as Man City get Leipzig.
Pot 1 teams are drawn:
Group A: Bayern Munich
Group B: Sevilla
Group C: Napoli
Group D: Benfica
Group E: Feyenoord
Group F: PSG
Group G: Manchester City
Group H: Barcelona
Joe Cole and Eric Abidal the Uefa ambassadors to draw the lots. The pots again:
Pot 1
Manchester City, Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Benfica, Feyenoord
Pot 2
Real Madrid, Manchester United, Inter, Dortmund, Atlético de Madrid, Leipzig, Porto, Arsenal
Pot 3
Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg, Milan, Braga, PSV, Lazio, Crvena zvezda, Copenhagen
Pot 4
Young Boys, Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Newcastle, Union Berlin, Antwerp, Lens
A review of Manchester City’s Champions League win features on the coverage. City won the Champions League for the first time, beating Inter Milan in the final.
Manchester City’s Rodri has won the Uefa Champions League Player of the Season, while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has won Uefa Champions League Young Player of the Season.
Time for a jazzy rendition of the Champions League song on piano and saxaphone with the trophy lit up in front of the musicians, because why not? We might be here a little while...
In other news, the Ireland squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against France and Netherlands - two tough ones for Stephen Kenny - has been announced. Shane Duffy and Aaron Connolly are back in Ireland squad but no Troy Parrott. Gavin Cummiskey reports:
Just to note that the Uefa men’s and women’s players and coaches of the year will be presented during today’s ceremony in Monaco, as well as the Uefa President’s Award, which is going to Miroslav Klose.
Earlier today, Zvonimir Boban, the European governing body’s chief of football, said the new stoppage-time rules that English soccer has enacted this season to avoid time wasting are “absurd” and will not be used in Uefa competitions.
“It’s absolutely absurd,” former AC Milan and Croatia midfielder Boban told reporters in Monaco.
“Regarding player welfare, it’s some kind of small tragedy or big tragedy because we are adding almost 12, 13, 14 minutes.
[ Uefa will not follow ‘absurd’ stoppage time rules, says officialOpens in new window ]
So it’s all up to the luck of the draw for fans of the teams involved. A potential group of death for Newcastle or Celtic fans could be: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Newcastle United/Celtic. Meanwhile a more generous group for Celtic could be Feyenoord, Porto, Copenhagen, Newcastle/Celtic.
Hello and welcome to coverage of the Uefa Champions League draw, and will begin from 5pm Irish time. The draw is happening in Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and features 32 teams, the last of such a configuration as the number of teams increase to 36 next season. The first matchday will take place on September 19th.
The teams that have qualified for the Champions League are as follows:
Pot 1
Manchester City, Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Paris St Germain, Benfica, Feyenoord
Pot 2
Real Madrid, Manchester United, Inter, Dortmund, Atlético de Madrid, Leipzig, Porto, Arsenal
Pot 3
Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg, Milan, Braga, PSV, Lazio, Crvena zvezda, Copenhagen
Pot 4
Young Boys, Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, Celtic, Newcastle, Union Berlin, Antwerp, Lens
Teams are drawn into eight groups of four. The first pot comprises the titleholder (Manchester City), the Uefa Europa League titleholder (Sevilla FC) and the domestic champions of Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal and Netherlands.
The other three pots are composed in accordance with the club coefficient rankings established at the beginning of the season. Teams from the same country cannot be drawn together. There are four Premier League teams in the draw - Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle, while Celtic also made the main competition by winning the Scottish Premier League.
Stay tuned to find out who gets who.
