Manchester City will face the Champions League holders, Barcelona, in their first group stage campaign. Friday’s draw placed Arsenal in with Bayern Munich and Juventus, and put Chelsea and Celtic together in a group featuring Real Madrid.
City’s last outing in the Champions League proper came in 2020-21, when they suffered a 4-2 aggregate defeat by Barcelona in the quarter-finals. The group stage was introduced the following season and City have since twice been eliminated by Madrid in qualifying.
Two teams will progress from each of the four groups and City will be the favourites to go through with Barcelona, after also being drawn with the Austrian club St Pölten and the Swedish side Hammarby. City qualified with an 8-0 aggregate defeat of Paris FC, who knocked out Arsenal and Wolfsburg on their way to last season’s group stage.
Group A Lyon, Wolfsburg, Roma, Galatasaray
Group B Chelsea, Real Madrid, Twente, Celtic
Group C Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Juventus, Vålerenga
Group D Barcelona, Manchester City, St. Pölten, Hammarby
There are three English teams in the group stage for the first time, Arsenal coming back from a 1-0 defeat in the first leg against the Swedish side Häcken to progress with a 4-0 home win. The Gunners meet two familiar faces in Group C in their 2022-23 group-stage opponents Juventus and quarter-final opponents Bayern, whom they defeated 2-1 on aggregate before losing to Wolfsburg. The Norwegian champions, Vålerenga, complete the group.
Chelsea received an automatic place in the group stage and could not face any of their fellow pot one sides (Barcelona, Bayern or Lyon) or another English team, meaning only Madrid and Wolfsburg could be drawn against them from pot two. Chelsea have the kindest of the groups, facing Madrid, the Dutch champions, Twente, and Celtic. This is the first time a Scottish team have reached the group stage, although Glasgow City twice reached the quarter-finals in the old knockout format.
Lyon and Wolfsburg, who have met in three finals, are in Group A with Roma and Galatasaray.
The first group games will take place on 8-9 October and the last on 17-18 December. The dates for matches are expected to be released on Saturday. The final will be held in Lisbon between 23 and 25 May, with the date to be confirmed.
