After Tuesday and Wednesday’s Champions League Qualifiers, all eyes turned to Monaco, the destination of this year’s group stage draw.
The draw for the Group Stage of the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League has been made today, and as always, throws up some intriguing ties including many of Europe’s biggest clubs.
With Manchester United’s shock exclusion from the competition due to last season’s seventh placed finish, it is down to; Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool to fly the flag for England, and below, you can see the group stages IN FULL.
Premier League champions Leicester City were named among the top eight seeds, alongside holders Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Paris St-Germain.
Here is the draw in full:
Group A:
Paris St Germain (France), Arsenal (England), Basel (Switzerland), Ludogorets (Bulgaria)
Arsenal pair Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny are set to line up against their former club.
Group B:
Benfica (Portugal), Napoli (Italy), Besiktas (Turkey), Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
A very even group, with three domestic champions and the second-placed side in Italy’s Serie A.
Group C:
Barcelona (Spain), Manchester City (England), Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany), Celtic (Scotland)
Pep Guardiola returns to his former employers, while a Battle of Britain also awaits against Celtic.
Group D:
Bayern Munich (Germany), Atletico Madrid (Spain), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Rostov (Russia)
Two of the 2015/16 season’s semi-finalists clash in the group stage. Bayern forward Thomas Muller claims ‘There is a score to be settled.’
Group E:
CSKA Moscow (Russia), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Tottenham (England), Monaco (France)
Tottenham and Monaco meet once again, having done so in last season’s Europa League Group Stage.
Group F:
Real Madrid (Spain), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Sporting (Portugal), Legia Warsaw (Poland)
Holders Real and Dortmund meet once again: they have faced each other ten times in the Champions League, including two Semi-Finals.
Group G:
Leicester City (England), Porto (Portugal), Club Brugge (Belgium), FC Kobenhavn (Denmark)
Premier League champions Leicester may fancy their chances of progression in first Champions League/European Cup adventure.
Group H:
Juventus (Italy), Sevilla (Spain), Lyon (France), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Juventus meet Sevilla for the second consecutive time in the Group Stage.
