Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan were handed a group of death in the Champions League, that will see Robert Lewandowski face his former club soon after leaving.
The draw took place in Istanbul on Thursday afternoon, with the final set to take place in Turkey next June, after the city was initially supposed to host in 2020 and 2021.
Real Madrid won last season’s competition, having been second favourites against PSG, Chelsea, Manchester City and
Liverpool on the way to winning the title of European champions for the 14th time.
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Those teams will all be amongst the favourites again this year, with PSG and City hoping to finally win their first European titles, with Bayern Munich will be another expected to compete.
And Bayern were given the toughest of the draws for the seeded teams, as they will be heading to the Nou Camp and San Siro to take on two of Europe’s most prestigious teams.
Group A
Ajax
Liverpool
Napoli
Rangers
Group B
Porto
Atletico Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen
Club Brugge
Group C
Bayern Munich
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Viktoria Plzen
Group D
Eintracht Frankfurt
Tottenham Hotspur
Sporting
Marseille
Group E
AC Milan
Chelsea
Red Bull Salzburg
Dinamo Zagreb
Group F
Real Madrid
RB Leipzig
Shakhtar Donetsk
Celtic
Group G
Manchester City
Sevilla
Borussia Dortmund
FC Copenhagen
Group H
PSG
Juventus
Benfica
Maccabi Haifa
As well as Bayern and Barca being in a group of death, the game itself will be full of narrative, with the Germans having the better of their rivals several times in recent years.
There was the 8-2 battering in 2020 and last year they helped knock the Spanish giants out at the group stages, with Thomas Muller claiming their opponents couldn’t ‘cope’ with Bayern.
This season the match will come with an extra level of intrigue, with Lewandowski returning to face his former side, just months after leaving them for Barca.
He isn’t the only player who will make a quick return to his former club in the group stages, with Erling Haaland set to take on Borussia Dortmund.
The Bundesliga club have once again been paired with Manchester City, having faced them in the quarter final stage in the 2020/21 season.