Champions League group stage draw to take place in Monaco today

Sport360 staff 08:55 30/08/2018
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  • European football's top clubs will vie for the trophy.

    Premier League sides Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool are set to discover their Champions League group stage opponents.

    The draw for the pool phase begins at 8pm UAE time on Thursday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

    There are four pots of eight teams, with one team from each pot forming a group, although teams from the same association cannot face each other.

    Premier League champions City, eliminated by Liverpool in the quarter-finals last term, are in pot one along with defending champions Real Madrid, Europa League winners Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Lokomotiv Moscow.

    United and Spurs, who both exited at the last-16 stage in 2017-18, are in pot two, which also features Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli and Roma.

    Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool will be in pot three alongside Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, Ajax, CSKA Moscow, Valencia and PSV Eindhoven.

    Qualification for the group stage was completed on Wednesday evening when Benfica beat Greek side PAOK Salonika, Dutch champions PSV overcame BATE Borisov, and Red Star Belgrade defeated Red Bull Salzburg on away goals.

    Serbian champions Red Star, winners in 1991, will be in pot four with Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Inter Milan, Hoffenheim and AEK Athens.

    Thursday’s ceremony will also see the winners of the UEFA Player Awards announced.

    Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is on the shortlist for the men’s player of the year award, along with Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric.

    Ronaldo – now with Juventus – and Modric were part of the Real Madrid side that beat Liverpool 3-1 in last season’s final in Kiev as the Spanish club won the competition for a third successive year.

    The first round of Champions League group matches take place on September 18 and 19, with the final to be held at Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on June 1.

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