Holders Paris Saint-Germain to face Bayern Munich and Barcelona in Champions League opening stage

MONACO – Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain will play Bayern Munich and Barcelona in this season’s league phase, while record 15-time winners Real Madrid will face Manchester City and Liverpool, after the Aug 28 draw set up some blockbuster encounters.

PSG will also meet English Premier League sides Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United along with Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen in the new league-phase format which started last season, where each club play eight games – four at home and four on the road.

Real will play City again for a fifth consecutive season and make a trip to Liverpool, in what will be a homecoming for Trent Alexander-Arnold, the English fullback who left Anfield to join Real in the close season.

Real also take on Juventus at home and have a long flight to Eastern Europe in store when they play Kazakhstan side FC Kairat, who stunned Scottish champions Celtic in the play-offs to qualify for the first time.

Last season’s league-phase table-toppers Liverpool will also face Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, while Bayern play Chelsea, Arsenal and Club Brugge.

Pep Guardiola’s City host Borussia Dortmund, Leverkusen and Napoli, and make two trips to Spain to face Real and Villarreal.

Last season’s runners-up Inter welcome Liverpool and Arsenal, and the Italian side will travel to Dortmund and Atletico.

Barcelona, La Liga champions and last term’s semi-finalists, host PSG and face away games at Chelsea and Newcastle.

Arsenal, also semi-finalists last season, play Atletico and Brugge, but their biggest opponents are Bayern, whom they have faced 14 times in the competition.

They have also failed to beat the German side in the last five encounters.

The Premier League has the most representatives with six clubs after last season’s top five – Liverpool, Arsenal, City, Chelsea and Newcastle qualified, along with Europa League winners Tottenham.

Spurs will play Dortmund and Villarreal as well as PSG, while Serie A champions Napoli face Chelsea, City, Frankfurt and Benfica.

Newcastle returned to the Champions League but have a tough path to the knockout phase after they were placed in Pot 4, drawing Barca, PSG, Benfica and Leverkusen among the teams they will face.

The league phase gets under way with the 36 teams playing on eight match days from Sept 16 to Jan 28.

The knockout phase begins in February, while the final will be played on May 30 at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

Chelsea were honoured with a special award for becoming the first club to win the Champions League, the Europa League, the Conference League, the Super Cup and the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup. REUTERS