Ronaldo’s comically simple position as PL club huge winners following the new-look Champions League draw

The league stage of the new-look UEFA Champions League was drawn on Thursday, resulting in a number of high-profile matches, including a trip to Liverpool for champions Real Madrid and a rematch of last season’s final between the Spanish giants and Borussia Dortmund.

In the new version of Europe’s best club competition, each side will play eight games against eight different opponents, with all 36 clubs pooled into a single league rather than being divided into groups.

Madrid, which has signed France superstar Kylian Mbappe since winning a record-extending 15th European Cup, will also face AC Milan at home and travel to Atalanta.

Real defeated last season’s Europa League champions Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup in Warsaw earlier this month.

Liverpool, who return to the Champions League after a one-season absence, will also face Milan and tournament debutants Girona.

However, Liverpool fans will most likely be delighted at the idea of playing German champions Bayer Leverkusen, who are coached by former Liverpool star Xabi Alonso.

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, the competition’s victors in 2023, will host Italian champions Inter Milan and travel to Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.
They were also given more comfortable opponents, like as Club Brugge, Sparta Prague, and Slovan Bratislava, who have never competed in the contemporary Champions League proper.

Other notable matchups include Bayern Munich against PSG and Barcelona, as well as Arsenal against Inter and Paris.

“It is the best competition in the world, featuring the best clubs in the world. Nasser al-Khelaifi, PSG’s Qatari president, stated that the new format will be more difficult, but it is exactly what the club wants.

The Champions League now comprises 36 clubs, up from 32 in the past, divided into four seeded pots of nine for the draw.

While the draw was previously done totally by hand, this time it needed to be done differently to avoid the process taking many hours.

Former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon drew out each squad on stage in Monaco, before Cristiano Ronaldo pulled a button to activate the computer, revealing all eight opponents.

Every side will play two clubs from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. The opening matches will take place on September 17, 18, and 19.

Aston Villa were major winners, with home ties against Bayern Munich and Juventus as they made their debut in the contemporary Champions League.

Villa won the European Cup in 1982, defeating Bayern in the final, but fell to Juventus in the quarterfinals the following season.

The English team will also face Celtic, while the Scottish champions will travel to Dortmund and Atalata.

Among the fresh faces are French club Brest, who have never played in any European competition previously and have been assigned games against both Madrid

Girona’s debut appearance in the competition will see them host Liverpool and Arsenal, as well as travel to PSG and AC Milan.

UEFA has stated that the particular dates for the fixtures will be published on Saturday. The two additional matchdays in the new league phase will take place in January, after which the top eight clubs from the 36-team classification will proceed directly to the final 16.

Those seeded ninth to 24th will compete in a play-off round, with the remaining eight teams progressing to the last 16.

The bottom 12 teams in the league phase will be eliminated completely, with no clubs falling into the Europa League as they have in the past.

The cash awards in the Champions League are bigger than before, with the overall pot growing by almost 25% to nearly 2.5 billion euros ($2.79

The Europa League and third-tier Conference League, whose draws take place on Friday, will now include 36 clubs, albeit the latter competition will only have six matchdays in the league phase.