Bayern to face Man United in Champions League group stage, Newcastle draw PSG
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Former Chelsea player Joe Cole draws Manchester United during the Champions League draw.
REUTERS
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MONACO – Manchester United will face a tough test against Bayern Munich in this season’s Champions League, while Thursday’s group-stage draw also placed Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United together.
Bayern and United will be favourites to advance from Group A, which also includes FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray, the Danish and Turkish champions.
The ties between the Bundesliga winners and the Old Trafford club will evoke memories of the most famous meeting between the sides, in the 1999 Champions League final won 2-1 by United after a remarkable late comeback.
England captain Harry Kane, who recently joined Bayern from Tottenham Hotspur after being linked with United, tweeted a picture of the finalised groups on Thursday, saying: “Can’t wait for this.”
United forward Marcus Rashford was equally excited, tweeting: “Can’t wait to make more memories in the @ChampionsLeague.”
Group F looks to be the toughest of all with Saudi-owned Newcastle facing AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund as well as Qatar-backed PSG.
Newcastle are appearing in the Champions League for the first time in 20 years and their lack of recent pedigree in Europe’s elite club competition meant they were left lurking dangerously among the sides in pot four for the draw.
Having held on to Kylian Mbappe, French champions PSG will be expected to advance to the last 16 but Newcastle will hope to finish ahead of Dortmund and a Milan team who got to the semi-finals last season.
“It’s an extremely tough group, we can’t hide from that, but hey, we take it,” Dortmund president Hans-Joachim Watzke told Sky Germany.
“We hope we can achieve something exceptional.”
Fresh from winning the Champions League last season for the first time, City could hardly have asked for a kinder draw as they will take on RB Leipzig, Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys in Group G.
Pep Guardiola’s side can be expected to rack up the goals against the champions of Serbia and Switzerland, while City hammered Leipzig 8-1 on aggregate in the last 16 last season.
Back in the Champions League for the first time since 2016-17, Arsenal will face Europa League winners Sevilla, 1988 European Cup winners PSV Eindhoven and Lens in Group B.
Record 14-time winners Real Madrid were drawn with Italian champions Napoli in Group C, which also features Braga and debutants Union Berlin.
Spanish champions Barcelona will take on Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and Royal Antwerp in Group H. Last season’s runners-up Inter Milan are in Group D with Portuguese champions Benfica, Red Bull Salzburg and Real Sociedad.
Scottish champions Celtic will face Feyenoord, Atletico Madrid and Lazio in Group E.
The first round of matches will be played on Sept 19 and 20, with the group stage ending on Dec 13. AFP, REUTERS
