Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso will bring his Leverkusen side back to Anfield in this season’s new-look Champions League.
For the first time all the qualifiers will be in one 36-team league phase, rather than eight four-team group.
At Thursday evening’s draw in Monaco a new computer software was used to give each team four home games and four away ties.
🚨🏆 Champions League complete draw. pic.twitter.com/PdifbQf71T
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 29, 2024
The top-eight sides in the table after the initial phase ends in late January go straight into the last-16, with the sides finishing 9th to 24th facing a two-legged knockout tie to join them.
The teams in 25th to 36th will be eliminated from European competition entirely, with no sides dropping into the Europa League.
In addition to Leverkusen, Arne Slot’s Reds were also drawn at home to Real Madrid and away to Milan, whom they have previously faced in memorable finals of the competition.
Aston Villa will host Celtic in a ‘Battle of Britain’ and will also welcome Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich and Juventus to Villa Park in their first venture into Europe’s premier competition in four decades.
Dortmund have been handed a trip to Real Madrid, who beat them in the final at Wembley in June, while Barcelona will host Bayern Munich, giving Hansi Flick the chance to face the team he played for and managed until 2021.
Man City face a trip to PSG among their eight fixtures while Kylian Mbappe-less Paris will also head to London to face Arsenal and their compatriots, Brest, have been drawn against both Real Madrid and Barcelona in their debut campaign.
Man City were the first team to be drawn manually in the revised format, by former Italy keeper Gigi Buffon, with Cristiano Ronaldo activating the computer randomiser which selected the fixtures for each team.
The Draw
Man City will host Inter Milan, Club Bruges, Feyenoord and Sparta Prague.
They will visit PSG, Juventus, Sporting…
Source link : https://www.101greatgoals.com/news/uefa-champions-league-draw-alonso-handed-anfield-return/
Author : Alex Hoad
Publish date : 2024-08-29 17:48:31
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