Ste McGovern
The four English teams in this season’s UEFA Champions League have discovered who they will be facing in the group stages following today’s draw.
Bayern Munich will make their way to London after being paired with Tottenham Hotspur, while reigning champions Liverpool will be reunited with Napoli after meeting at the same stage last season.
Spurs will also face tricky tests against Olympiakos and Red Star Belgrade, who defeated Jurgen Klopp’s side last season, but they are in an eminently qualifiable group if last year’s runners-up regain the form of previous campaigns. Liverpool will also face Genk and Salzburg, Naby Keita’s former team, in what they will fancy as a favourable draw.
In contrast Chelsea have been handed a relatively tough draw, with the west London outfit taking on last year’s surprise package Ajax, as well as Valencia and Lille.
Manchester City will be the happiest of the English clubs, having drawn Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta. The eastern European sides have previous experience of this competition, while the Italian club are appearing for the first time, but are an exciting team that will challenge strongly for qualification to the knockout stages. Even so, the Premier League champions will be very confident of topping that group.
The Champions League group stage draw for 2019/20:
Group A
- PSG
- Real Madrid
- Club Brugge
- Galatasaray
Group B
- Bayern Munich
- Tottenham
- Olympiakos
- Red Star Belgrade
Group C
- Man City
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Dinamo Zagreb
- Atalanta
Group D
- Juventus
- Atletico Madrid
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Lokomotiv Moscow
Group E
- Liverpool
- Napoli
- Salzburg
- Genk
Group F
- Barcelona
- Borussia Dortmund
- Inter Milan
- Slavia Prague
Group G
- Zenit
- Benfica
- Lyon
- RB Leipzig
Group H
- Chelsea
- Ajax
- Valencia
- Lille
Read: The five favourites to win the 2019/20 Champions League
See Also: Five of the best Champions League successes by English clubs