UEFA Champions League draw: Alonso handed Anfield return

Former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso will bring his Leverkusen side back to Anfield in this season’s new-look Champions League.

For the first time all the qualifiers will be in one 36-team league phase, rather than eight four-team group.

At Thursday evening’s draw in Monaco a new computer software was used to give each team four home games and four away ties.

🚨🏆 Champions League complete draw. pic.twitter.com/PdifbQf71T

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 29, 2024

The top-eight sides in the table after the initial phase ends in late January go straight into the last-16, with the sides finishing 9^th to 24^th facing a two-legged knockout tie to join them.

The teams in 25^th to 36^th will be eliminated from European competition entirely, with no sides dropping into the Europa League.

In addition to Leverkusen, Arne Slot’s Reds were also drawn at home to Real Madrid and away to Milan, whom they have previously faced in memorable finals of the competition.

Aston Villa will host Celtic in a ‘Battle of Britain’ and will also welcome Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich and Juventus to Villa Park in their first venture into Europe’s premier competition in four decades.

Dortmund have been handed a trip to Real Madrid, who beat them in the final at Wembley in June, while Barcelona will host Bayern Munich, giving Hansi Flick the chance to face the team he played for and managed until 2021.

Man City face a trip to PSG among their eight fixtures while Kylian Mbappe-less Paris will also head to London to face Arsenal and their compatriots, Brest, have been drawn against both Real Madrid and Barcelona in their debut campaign.

Man City were the first team to be drawn manually in the revised format, by former Italy keeper Gigi Buffon, with Cristiano Ronaldo activating the computer randomiser which selected the fixtures for each team.

The Draw

Man City will host Inter Milan, Club Bruges, Feyenoord and Sparta Prague.

They will visit PSG, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon and Slovan Bratislava.

 

Liverpool will host Real Madrid, Leverkusen, Lille and Bologna

They will visit Leipzig, Milan, PSV and Girona.

 

Arsenal host PSG, Shakhtar, Dinamo Zagreb and Monaco.

They will visit Inter, Atalanta, Sporting Lisbon and Girona.

 

Celtic will host Leipzig, Club Bruges, Young Boys and Slovan Bratislava

They will visit Dormund, Atalanta, Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa.

 

Aston Villa will host Bayern, Juventus, Celtic and Bologna.

They will visit Leipzig, Club Bruges, Young Boys and Monaco.

 

Barcelona will host Bayern, Atalanta, Young Boys and Brest.

They will visit Dortmund, Benfica, Crvena zvezda and Monaco.

 

Real Madrid will host Dortmund, Milan, Salzburg and Stuttgart.

They will visit Liverpool, Atalanta, Lille and Brest.

 

PSG will host Man City, Atletico, PSV and Girona.

They will visit Bayern, Arsenal, Salzburg and Stuttgart.

 

Inter will host Leipzig, Arsenal, Crvena zvezda and Monaco.

They will visit Man City, Leverkusen, Young Boys and Sparta Prague.

 

Bayern Munich will host PSG, Benfica, Dinamo Zagreb and Slovan Bratislava.

They will visit Barcelona, Shakhtar, Feyenoord and Aston Villa.

 

RB Leipzig will host Liverpool, Juventus, Sporting and Aston Villa.

They will visit Inter, Atletico Madrid, Celtic and Sturm Graz.

 

Dortmund will host Barcelona, Shakhtar, Celtic and Sturm Graz.

They will visit Real Madrid, Club Bruges, Dinamo Zagreb and Bologna.

 

The fixture dates and order will not be released by UEFA until Saturday.

 

✅ Home and away opponents for Pot 1 teams 🏠✈️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/4bwEU4zCqq

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2024

✅ Home and away opponents for Pot 2 teams 🏠✈️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/DHAAIG5uxB

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2024

✅ Home and away opponents for Pot 3 teams 🏠✈️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/6xQDCTNtdL

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2024

✅ Home and away opponents for Pot 4 teams 🏠✈️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/G22WtdPeMb

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2024