UEFA Champions League group-stage draw: Find out who Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig will face
The draw for the group stage of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League took place on Thursday, with Bayern Munich taking on Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Dortmund drawn to face Barcelona. The Bundesliga's other representatives, RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen, also learned their fate.
bundesliga.com runs you through who the German teams will face…
The 32 teams in the competition were divided into four pots based on their UEFA club coefficients, which is a number used to rank teams based on previous continental performances, although Pot 1 is reserved for the competition’s holders, winners of the UEFA Europa League and the champions of the top six ranked domestic leagues.
These teams were then drawn into eight groups of four, with one club from each pot going into each group. Clubs from the same country/association could not be placed into the same group. Each team will play six matches – three home and three away – between September and December, with the top two in the group progressing to the knockout stage, and third place dropping into the Europa League.
The seven-time defending Bundesliga champions took their seemingly customary place in Pot 1. It meant the five-time European Cup/Champions League winners could not face the holders and team that eliminated them last season, Liverpool, but could renew their rivalry with Spain’s Real Madrid.
Instead, they drew last season’s runners-up Tottenham Hotspur, who finished third in the English Premier League, and Greek side Olympiacos, who got past Russian outfit Krasnodar in the play-off round. Red Star Belgrade edged out Swiss team Young Boys in that same pre-group qualifying stage, meaning Bayern will also travel to Serbia this year.
Group B: Bayern Munich, Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), Olympiacos (GRE), Red Star Belgrade (SRB)
The 1997 Champions League winners were drawn from Pot 2 as they look to improve on their round of 16 elimination last year at the hands of Tottenham.
The current Bundesliga leaders could not face Bayern from Pot 1, and were instead placed in a group with Spanish champions Barcelona as well as Italian giants Inter Milan. Slavia Prague, who got the better of Romanian side Cluj in the play-off round, will also take on Lucien Favre’s side this season.
Group F: Barcelona (ESP), Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan (ITA), Slavia Prague (CZE).
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Die Werkself are back at Europe’s top table after a two-year absence thanks to their fourth-place finish in the Bundesliga last season.
Leverkusen, who famously finished runners-up in the 2001/02 Champions League, face a tough test against Italian champions Juventus and Spanish giants Atletico Madrid. Leverkusen met Atletico in the 2016/17 round of 16, while Russian outfit Lokomotiv Moscow are the fourth seeds in a challenging group.
Group D: Juventus (ITA), Atletico Madrid (ESP), Bayer Leverkusen, Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS).
Die Roten Bullen are back for their second crack at the Champions League, this time with Julian Nagelsmann at the helm after he led Hoffenheim to the group stage last year.
They finished third in their group in their first Champions League campaign, but none of their opponents from that year have made it into the draw this time around. They did, however, beat Zenit in the knockout stage of the Europa League in 2017/18, and have been drawn to play the Russian champions once more. Portuguese league winners Benfica and French side Lyon – who Nagelsmann faced with Hoffenheim last term – complete their group.
Group G: Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS), Benfica (POR), Lyon (FRA), RB Leipzig.
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