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Liverpool and Manchester City will both face Real Madrid in the Champions League league phase after Thursday’s draw, while holders Paris Saint-Germain were handed one of the toughest slates of opponents, including Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Xabi Alonso’s Madrid will meet City at the Bernabéu and travel to Anfield to play Liverpool, setting up two standout clashes early in the competition. For Trent Alexander-Arnold, who left Liverpool for Real in June, the fixture marks a swift return to Merseyside.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool, who topped the league phase last season before being knocked out by PSG in the last 16, will also welcome Atletico Madrid, PSV Eindhoven and Qarabag to Anfield. Their away schedule includes trips to Inter Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille and Galatasaray. “Like last season, it is a very challenging draw, but we knew that it would be,” Slot said. “To welcome Real Madrid back to Anfield is something special. Last season’s match was memorable, and I expect the same again.”
City, winners of the 2023 Champions League, will host Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Napoli and Galatasaray at the Etihad Stadium, while their away fixtures include Real Madrid, Villarreal, Monaco and Norwegian newcomers Bodø/Glimt. The meeting with Napoli will bring Kevin De Bruyne back to Manchester following his summer move to Italy after a decade with City.
PSG, meanwhile, face another difficult road in their title defence, with Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United among their opponents. The French champions also play Atalanta at home and face trips to Leverkusen, Sporting Lisbon and Athletic Bilbao. Club president Nasser al-Khelaifi, present in Monaco for the draw, said: “We have forgotten about last season. Today we are the champions, but everybody wants to be the champions.”
Elsewhere, Arsenal, semi-finalists last season, will play Bayern and Atletico at home while travelling to Inter Milan and Bilbao. Barcelona are scheduled to visit Chelsea and Newcastle, while debutants Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan, who eliminated Celtic in the play-offs, will host Real Madrid and visit Arsenal. Cypriot newcomers Pafos will take on Chelsea and Bayern.
Under the new format introduced last season, each of the 36 clubs plays eight matches against different opponents in a single league table. The top eight progress directly to the last 16, teams placed ninth to 24th move into the knockout play-offs, and the bottom 12 are eliminated.
The campaign begins between 16 and 18 September, with the final set for 30 May in Budapest. UEFA confirmed the showpiece will kick off earlier than usual, starting at 6:00 pm local time instead of 9:00 pm.
