Champions League Draw: Premier League and Scottish Premiership Clubs Learn Opponents in New 36-Team League Phase.
The draw for the new 36-team Champions League league phase has been completed, revealing the opponents for Premier League giants Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Scottish Premiership side Celtic.
Manchester City will face a challenging set of fixtures in the league phase. The defending Premier League champions are set to host Inter Milan, Club Bruges, Feyenoord, and Sparta Prague at the Etihad Stadium. Their away matches will include trips to Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon, and Slovan Bratislava.
Arsenal will also have a tough schedule as they prepare to play PSG, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb, and Monaco at home. The Gunners will travel to Inter Milan, Atalanta, Sporting Lisbon, and Girona.
Liverpool are poised to take on some of Europe’s most formidable clubs. The Reds will host Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, and Bologna at Anfield while facing away ties against Leipzig, AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, and Girona.
Celtic will have a particularly notable clash against Aston Villa, marking one of their away fixtures. The Scottish side will also host Leipzig, Club Bruges, Young Boys, and Slovan Bratislava at Celtic Park. Their away matches include trips to Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, and Dinamo Zagreb.
The new format sees the number of matches increase from 125 to 189. Each team will play a minimum of eight games instead of six, with the league phase extending until the end of January rather than ending before Christmas.
Teams that finish in the top eight of the league phase will automatically qualify for the last 16. Those finishing between ninth and 24th place will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off for a chance to join the top eight. However, teams finishing 25th or lower will be eliminated from the competition and will not enter the Europa League.
The knockout rounds from the last 16 onwards will follow the existing Champions League format, with the final set to take place in Munich this year.
The stage is set for an exciting new era in European football, with the Premier League and Scottish Premiership clubs ready to test themselves against the best the continent has to offer.
