Manchester United face a challenging Champions League group stage after being placed alongside Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, and Istanbul Basaksehir in Thursday’s draw.
United memorably overturned a 2-0 deficit to knock out PSG in the last 16 at Parc des Princes 3-3 on away goals two seasons ago. Yet last season Thomas Tuchel’s team reached the final, Leipzig were semi-finalists, and Basaksehir became Turkish champions for the first time.
Group D pits Liverpool against Ajax, Atalanta, and FC Midtjylland, while Group G has the prospect of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo facing each other again after Barcelona and Juventus were drawn together, alongside Dynamo Kyiv and Ferencvaros.
Manchester City will take on Porto, Olympiakos and Marseille in Group C. Bayern Munich, the holders, have Atlético Madrid, Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moscow in Group A, and Chelsea are in Group E with the Europa League champions Sevilla, Krasnodar and Rennes.
Uefa also announced on Thursday that supporters will be allowed to attend matches in the competition, though only to a 30% capacity and according to respective local Covid regulations. No away fans will be allowed.
Group A: Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid, Salzburg, Lokomotiv Moscow
Group B: Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Internazionale, Borussia Mönchengladbach
Group C: Porto, Manchester City, Olympiakos, Marseille
Group D: Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta, Midtjylland
Group E: Sevilla, Chelsea, Krasnodar, Rennes
Group F: Zenit Saint Petersburg, Borussia Dortmund, Lazio, Club Brugge
Group G: Juventus, Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv, Ferencvaros
Group H: Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, RB Leipzig, Istanbul Basaksehir
Earlier, the UK government stated that the travel corridors for Poland and Turkey have been removed and the countries added to the national quarantine list. While players and team staff are expected to remain exempt, this does mean any travelling media would have to spend 14 days in isolation should they cover United’s match in Istanbul. France is already on the list.
The opening group games are to be played on 20 and 21 October. The first of three consecutive weeks of matches before November’s international break is followed by the last three rounds, which are completed on 8 and 9 December. The fixture schedule for the group stages will be published by Uefa on Friday.
At the draw Chelsea’s Pernille Harder and Bayern’s Robert Lewandowski won the Uefa women’s and men’s player of the year awards.