Manchester City are up against Lionel Messi-powered Paris Saint-Germain in Group A, with Liverpool set to take on Atletico Madrid yet again.
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Paris Saint-Germain have been drawn against Manchester City in the group stages of the 2021-22 Champions League, setting up a showdown between Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi. The fate of the 32 teams competing in Europe’s biggest club competition was determined on Thursday as the UEFA Champions League group stage draw was conducted in Istanbul, Turkey. Defending champions Chelsea are destined to spearhead Group H with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus their opponents. While Ronaldo has been linked to Manchester City in recent times, the Portuguese continues to be a Juventus player for now. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Porto and AC Milan are placed in Group B, making it the group of death.
RB Leipzig and Club Brugge are placed alongside big guns PSG and Manchester City in Group A. Pep Guardiola’s City who lost the last year’s final against the Blues will welcome PSG to the Etihad. Meanwhile, Barcelona will face Bayern Munich in Group E. It will be their first meeting since Bayern smashed the Catalan club 8-2 in the semi-finals in August 2020.
It will further be the first Champions League campaign for the Spanish giants without Messi. The six-time Ballon D’or winner ended his 21-year stint with Barcelona and moved to PSG this summer.
Manchester United are drawn against Villarreal in Group F, in a rematch of last season’s Europa League final, which the Spanish side won on penalties. Italian side Atalanta and BSC Young boys are the other teams in the group.
Liverpool will face familiar faces as they return to the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium to face Atletico Madrid, the site where they won the Champions League in 2019. Diego Simeone’s side had knocked out the Reds in the round of 16 the following season. Meanwhile, the former champions AC Milan are also making their return to the competition after 2013/14.
The group stages will kick-off on September 14 and will run for a total of six weeks with the final set to take place at Krestovsky Stadium in St. Petersburg, Russia on May 28.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin honoured the nine recipients including Denmark captain Simon Kjaer for saving the life of Christian Eriksen, who suffered a cardiac arrest in his side’s opening match of Euro 2020.
Chelsea were the biggest winners at the Turkish metropolis as they bagged multiple awards on Thursday. Midfielder Jorginho won the best male player of the year award ahead of teammate N’Golo Kante and Man City’s Kevin De Bruyne. Barcelona’s Alexia Puyellas won the award for female footballers.
Thomas Tuchel was awarded the UEFA Champions League Men’s Coach of the Year. On the other hand, Chelsea custodian Edouard Mendy was awarded the UEFA Champions League Men’s Goalkeeper of the Season, for keeping 9 clean sheets in 12 matches last season.
Frenchman N’Golo Kante who played a pivotal role in the Blues’ triumph last season was awarded the UEFA Champions League Men’s Midfielder of the Season.
As far as the UEFA Champions League Men’s Forward of the Season, Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland took home the award after scoring 41 goals and registering 12 assists in 41 appearances in all competitions last season.
Manchester City centre-back Ruben Dias won the UEFA Champions League Men’s Defender of the Season award.
GROUP A: Manchester City, Paris St Germain, RB Leipzig, Brugge
GROUP B: Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Porto, AC Milan
GROUP C: Sporting CP, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, Besiktas
GROUP D: Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sheriff
GROUP E: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Benfica, Dynamo Kyiv
GROUP F: Villarreal, Manchester United, Atalanta, Young Boys Bern
GROUP G: Lille, Sevilla, Salzburg, Wolfsburg
