Joe
Arsenal is set to face Inter Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, and Atalanta among their eight opening fixtures in the first stage of the newly restructured Champions League.
The revamped format, which includes 36 teams competing in a single league, will see each team playing four home and four away matches. The top eight teams will automatically advance to the round of 16, while a play-off round will determine the remaining eight qualifiers.
UEFA is expected to confirm the exact match schedule on Saturday. Arsenal, drawn from Pot 2, will be relatively satisfied with their Pot 1 opponent. Other teams they will face include Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb, Sporting Lisbon, Monaco, and Girona.
Manchester City, meanwhile, faces a slightly tougher draw on paper. They are set to compete against Inter, Juventus, and PSG, alongside Club Brugge, Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, Sparta Prague, and Slovan Bratislava.
Liverpool, drawn by former Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon during the ceremony in Monte Carlo, will face reigning champions Real Madrid, Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, AC Milan, Lille, PSV Eindhoven, Bologna, and Girona. Cristiano Ronaldo played a role in the draw, allocating the opponents via a computer-generated system.
Scottish champions Celtic, who were in Pot 3, have been drawn into an all-British tie against Aston Villa. Their other opponents include last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, Leipzig, Club Brugge, Atalanta, Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb, and Slovan Bratislava. Aston Villa, returning to the Champions League after 41 years, will also face Bayern Munich, Leipzig, Juventus, Club Brugge, Celtic, Young Boys, Bologna, and Monaco.
UEFA will release the full fixture schedule, including dates and kick-off times, on Saturday, August 31. Among the highlights, Liverpool will face Real Madrid, while Aston Villa and Celtic will meet in an all-British showdown.
