The draw for the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League group stage has been made in Geneva, Switzerland, marking the proper start of another season of elite European competition.
The 32 competing clubs, six of whom have reached this stage from the qualifying rounds, have been divided into the usual eight groups of four, with seedings determined by their UEFA ranking and country protection in use as per the norm for this stage of the competition.
Holders Bayern Munich were the very first club pulled out and are to play Atletico Madrid, Red Bull Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moscow to kick off the defence of their title.
2019 winners Liverpool, meanwhile, will face four-time former champions Ajax, prolific Italian side Atalanta and Danish minnows Midtjylland.
On their return to the Champions League, Manchester United have a reunion with Paris Saint-Germain 18 months after an historic knockout tie in a very tough group that also features 2019/20 semi-finalists RB Leipzig and first time qualifiers Istanbul Basaksehir.
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will go head to head for the first time since 2018 after Juventus and Barcelona were drawn into the same group, alongside Dynamo Kyiv and Ferencvaros.
13-time record winners Real Madrid must navigate a group with Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter and Borussia Monchengladbach, who are back in the competition this season.
2020/21 UEFA Champions League Group Stage Draw:
Group A: Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Red Bull Salzburg, Lokomotiv Moscow
Group B: Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter, Borussia Monchengladbach
Group C: Porto, Manchester City, Olympiacos, Marseille
Group D: Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, Midtjylland
Group E: Sevilla, Chelsea, Krasnodar, Rennes
Group F: Zenit Saint Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, Club Brugge
Group G: Juventus, Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv, Ferencvaros
Group H: Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, RB Leipzig, Istanbul Basaksehir
When Will Games Be Played?
The group stage will begin on Tuesday 20 October and conclude on Wednesday 9 December, with the schedule as follows:
Matchday 1 - 20/21 October
Matchday 2 - 27/28 October
Matchday 3 - 3/4 November
Matchday 4 - 24/25 November
Matchday 5 - 1/2 December
Matchday 6 - 8/9 December
The 2021 final will be held on Saturday 29 May at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, which was supposed to host the 2020 final until arrangements were changed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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Source : 90min