Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan were handed a group of death in the Champions League, that will see Robert Lewandowski face his former club soon after leaving.
The draw for the 2022/23 Champions League group stage is now officially complete.
With the 32 teams for this year’s competition confirmed on Wednesday evening following the conclusion of the play-offs, we can now look forward to the action getting started on September 6th.
Real Madrid are the current holders after beating Liverpool in last season’s final and they will be bidding to lift the trophy for a record-extending 15th time in Istanbul next year.
However, it will be anything but easy for Los Blancos to retain the crown given the current strength of Europe’s elite.
Lionel Messi‘s Paris Saint-Germain have started the 2022/23 season on fire, while Barcelona‘s lavish spending over the summer may see them emerge as serious contenders once again.
Then you have the Premier League giants in the form of Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, who are all in with a strong chance of achieving European glory.
And let’s not forget about Bayern Munich and Juventus, two teams capable of beating absolutely anyone on their day.
The 2022/23 Champions League group stage draw
It’s all set to be yet another memorable edition of the Champions League and the continent’s best clubs can now begin plotting their route to next year’s final at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at the outcome from Thursday’s group stage draw…
Group A
Ajax
Liverpool
Napoli
Rangers
Group B
FC Porto
Atletico Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen
Club Brugge
Group C
Bayern Munich
Barcelona
Inter Milan
FC Viktoria Plzen
Group D
Eintracht Frankfurt
Tottenham Hotspur
Sporting Lisbon
Marseille
Group E
AC Milan
Chelsea
Red Bull Salzburg
Dinamo Zagreb
Group F
Real Madrid
RB Leipzig
Shakhtar Donetsk
Celtic
Group G
Manchester City
Sevilla
Borussia Dortmund
FC Copenhagen
Group H
Paris Saint-Germain
Juventus
Benfica
Maccabi Haifa
Robert Lewandowski returning to Bayern Munich? Angel Di Maria returning to PSG? Erling Haaland returning to Dortmund? Yeah, it’s going to be a great opening round of the Champions League, that’s for sure.
And Group C is without question the dreaded ‘Group of Death’, isn’t it?
One of Bayern, Barcelona and Inter will miss out on a spot in the knockout stage and right now, we wouldn’t like to predict who it will be…
