Khaberni - The UEFA Champions League football draw on Thursday in Monaco resulted in strong matchups for French title holder Paris Saint-Germain from the past two seasons against Spanish Barcelona, English Manchester City and Aston Villa among eight matches they will play in the unified group stage, while Arsenal, the champion of England, will play against Spanish Real Madrid.
The Parisian club, which won the title for the second consecutive season after defeating English Arsenal in penalty shootouts in last May’s final, will also face Italian Roma, Turkish Galatasaray, Slovakian Slovan Bratislava, Spanish Villarreal, and Italian Como.
The team managed by Spanish coach Luis Enrique will travel twice to England to face City and Villa. The Parisian team had previously defeated them on their way to winning the prestigious continental title for the first time in 2025.
Paris Saint-Germain will also visit Spain to face Villarreal and Italy to meet Como, managed by Spaniard Cesc Fabregas.
The first round of matches for this season's edition will be held between Tuesday 8 September and Thursday the 10th, and the final round meetings in late January. The continental federation is expected to announce the full schedule of matches on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the draw placed Arsenal, the champion of England, in a fiery confrontation against Spanish Real Madrid, German Borussia Dortmund, French Lille, and Azerbaijani club Sabah, which passed the qualifying stage to reach the main draw for the first time in its history.
The “Gunners” await a series of tough away games against German giant Bayern Munich, Spanish Real Betis, Italian Napoli, and Czech Slavia Prague.
In turn, English Liverpool, managed by Spanish coach Andoni Iraola, hosts Spanish Atletico Madrid, Portuguese Porto, Spanish Villarreal, and French Lens, while visiting Italian champion Inter Milan, Belgian Club Brugge, Turkish Fenerbahce, and Austrian LASK, who is participating for the first time in the group stage.
Meanwhile, English Manchester United, not among the top tier teams in the draw, will host games against Bayern, Roma, German Leipzig, and Sabah, alongside away matches against Atletico, Sporting from Portugal, Villarreal, and Como.
Among other prominent matchups, Manchester City will visit Barcelona, while Real Madrid hosts Inter.
Aston Villa, last season’s European League (Europa League) champion, heads to Barcelona, while hosting Dortmund, in addition to facing Istanbul giants Galatasaray and Fenerbahce.
Fenerbahce reached the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the 2008-2009 season, having eliminated French Lyon from the qualifiers this week.
The current edition also sees new names appearing in the prestigious continental competition, notably Como, which upset expectations in the Italian league by defeating prominent clubs such as Juventus, and Sabah, while LASK reaches this stage for the first time after a thrilling victory and turning its defeat against Scottish Celtic in the qualifiers into a win.
Last season's Norwegian champion Viking also succeeded in reaching the group stage for the first time in its history, securing an impressive series of matches against Bayern, Atletico, Aston Villa, and Napoli.
This is the third edition of the UEFA Champions League since adopting the new system, where the group stage includes 36 teams in one group under a league system, and each team plays eight matches against eight different opponents.
This season's final will be held at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid on 5 June 2027.
