The draw for the Champions League group stage of the 2021/2022 season was held in Istanbul. Group B, where Atletico Madrid, FC Liverpool, FC Porto and AC Milan will face each other, should be considered the “group of death”. In Group A, Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain will compete against each other. Bayern Munich, featuring Robert Lewandowski, will fight among others FC Barcelona for promotion.
The teams competing in the LM group stage are divided into four baskets.
The first basket includes the last season’s Champions League and Europa League winners, as well as the champions of Europe’s six highest-ranked leagues. The remaining teams are placed in three further baskets according to the UEFA coefficients for the 2020/2021 season. Interestingly, AC Milan, winner of the UEFA Champions League in 2003 and 2007, is placed in the last basket. This is obviously due to several poor seasons of the rossoneri, which resulted, among other things, in a lack of opportunities to appear on the European arena and collect ranking points.
Results of the Champions League group stage draw:
Group A:
Manchester City
Paris Saint-Germain
RB Leipzig
Club Brugge
Group B:
Atletico Madrid
Liverpool FC
FC Porto
AC Milan
Group C:
Sporting Lisbon
Borussia Dortmund
Ajax Amsterdam
Besiktas Istanbul
Group D:
Inter Milan
Real Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk
Sheriff Tiraspol
Group E:
Bayern Munich
FC Barcelona
Benfica Lisbon
Dynamo Kiev
Group F:
Villarreal CF
Manchester United
Atalanta Bergamo
Young Boys Bern
Group G:
Lille OSC
Sevilla FC
Red Bull Salzburg
VfL Wolfsburg
Group H:
Chelsea FC
Juventus FC
Zenit Saint Petersburg
Malmoe FF
JWSport Jacek Waszak – Sport journalist