MONACO: The draw for the league stage of the new-look UEFA Champions League took place on Thursday, throwing up a series of heavyweight fixtures including a trip for holders Real Madrid to Liverpool and a repeat of last season's final between the Spanish giants and Borussia Dortmund.
Every team will play eight games against eight different opponents in the new format of Europe's elite club competition, with all 36 clubs now pooled together into one league rather than split into groups.
Madrid, who have signed France superstar Kylian Mbappe since winning a record-extending 15th European Cup, will also notably play AC Milan at home and will go to Atalanta.
Real beat last season's Europa League winners Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup in Warsaw earlier this month.
Liverpool, who are back in the Champions League after a one-season absence, will also notably meet Milan and take on tournament debutants Girona.
However, supporters of the Anfield club will perhaps be most excited about the prospect of hosting German champions Bayer Leverkusen, coached by former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso.
"There will be a lot of focus on the fixture against Real Madrid at Anfield, and rightly so because they are the holders of the competition, but at the same time there is so much quality among our other opponents that we will spread our attention evenly and take each game as it comes," said Liverpool manager Arne Slot.
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, winners of the competition in 2023, will play at home to Italian champions Inter Milan and go to both Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.
However, they were also handed more comfortable opponents including Club Brugge, Sparta Prague and Slovan Bratislava, who have never played in the modern Champions League proper.
Other standout head-to-heads will include Bayern Munich against both PSG and Barcelona, and Arsenal against Inter and Paris.
"It is the best competition in the world with the best clubs in the world. With the new format it will be harder but that is what we like," said PSG's Qatari president, Nasser al-Khelaifi.
The number of clubs in the Champions League has increased from 32 in the past, with the 36 participants split into four seeded pots of nine for the draw.
While in the past the draw was entirely conducted by hand, this time had to be different to avoid the process lasting several hours.
Each team was drawn out by former Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on the stage in Monaco, before Cristiano Ronaldo pressed a button to activate the computer which revealed all eight of their opponents.
Every team will face two clubs from each of the four pots, one at home and one away. The first matches will be played on September 17, 18 and 19.
Aston Villa were handed plum ties at home to Bayern Munich and Juventus as they enter the modern Champions League for the first time.
Villa beat Bayern in the final when they won the European Cup in 1982, and then lost to Juve in the following season's quarter-finals.
The English side will also host Celtic, while the Scottish champions can also look forward to trips to Dortmund and Atalata.
Among the new faces are French club Brest, who have never played in any European competition before and were handed games against both Madrid and Barcelona.
Girona's first foray into the competition will see them host Liverpool and Arsenal, and go to PSG and AC Milan.
UEFA have said the specific dates for fixtures will be revealed on Saturday.
The two extra matchdays in the new league phase will take place in January, at the end of which the top eight clubs in the 36-team classification will advance directly to the last 16.
Those ranked between ninth and 24th place will go through to play a play-off round from which will emerge the remaining eight sides advancing to the last 16.
The bottom 12 in the league phase will be eliminated altogether, with no clubs parachuting down into the Europa League as in the past.
The financial rewards in the Champions League are greater than before with the total pot rising by about 25 percent to almost 2.5 billion euros (US$2.79 billion). The winners of the competition can pocket over 86 million euros just in prize money.
The Europa League and third-tier Conference League, the draws for which take place on Friday, will also now feature 36 clubs, although the latter competition will involve only six matchdays in the league phase.-AFP