The road to the still distant end of St. Petersburg next May 28 will initially pass for Barça through Munich, the damn Lisbon and Kiev, a whole classic. Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Essien, two ex-Chelsea, did not give luck to the Barcelona club in the Istanbul draw, but neither did they Atlético de Madrid and Villarreal and yes enough to Real Madrid. Something else smiled the Seville in a draw that resulted in an explosive cross between the PSG of Messi, Neymar and for now Mbappe with the Manchester City from Pep Guardiola and maybe Cristiano Ronaldo if there is an agreement with Juventus.
There will be no respite for him Barça in group E. One year and 12 days after the painful 2-8 received against Bayern in the quarterfinals of Lisbon, will meet again with the Bavarians, now with Julian Nagelsmann, which he had as an assistant in the Hoffenheim to Alfred Schreuder, right hand of Ronald Koeman. The exam will be of aúpa with the continental champion of 2020 in an edition that will return to the culés to the Lisbon capital already Give light, where they fit their biggest European beating to visit the Benfica from Jorge Jesus and Alex Grimaldo, club that coached by the way Koeman in 2005-06 reaching the quarterfinals until being eliminated by the Barça. The Dynamo Kiev, current Ukrainian champion, will return a year later to the Camp Nou.
The Madrid from Carlo Ancelotti saw almost traced the group of last season when repeating Inter but without Romelu lukaku and the Shakhtar Donetsk as rivals and complete their league with the Sheriff Tiraspol Moldovan, the only rookie of the 32 in the league.
More potential will have the group of Athletic, which will return to Anfield, where he triumphed in the eighth of 2020. The colchoneros will see them in addition to the Liverpool with the Porto and the Milan, the strongest in the cup 4.
Fortune did not turn its back on Seville, which has a very affordable pool with Lille, Red Bull Salzburg and Wolfsburg as opponents and real options to finish first. And the Villarreal, fifth Spaniard in discord, will be seen again with the Manchester United, which he defeated in the last final of the Europe League. The awkward Atalanta and the easy Young boys Swiss will leave open the dream of reaching the round of 16.
And returning to the spectacular group A with the pulse PSG-City, the Leipzig he will be a tough opponent to take away points with the Club Witches like cinderella. Nor will you be clear about the Chelsea, current champion, be the first of group H, where he will face Juventus, Zenith and Malmö. And in C, a group that could be from the Europa League, the Borussia Dortmund is favorite before Ajax, Sporting and Besiktas.
The first day, September 14-15
The calendar will be known on Saturday morning with the first day of a Champions League that promises strong emotions scheduled for September 14-15.
ALL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2021-22 GROUPS
GROUP A
Manchester City (Eng)
Paris SG (Fra)
Leipzig (Ale)
Club Bruges (Bel)
B GROUP
ATLÉTICO DE MADRID (ESP)
Liverpool (Eng)
Porto (By)
Milan (Ita)
GROUP C
Sporting (By)
Borussia Dortmund (Ale)
Ajax (Hol)
GROUP D
Inter Milan (Ita)
REAL MADRID (ESP)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ucr)
Sheriff Tiraspol (Mol)
GROUP E
Bayern Munich (Ale)
FC Barcelona (ESP)
Benfica (By)
Dynamo Kiev (Ucr)
GROUP F
VILLARREAL (ESP)
Manchester United (Eng)
Atalanta (Ita)
Young Boys (Sui)
GROUP G
Lille (Fra)
SEVILLA (ESP)
Red Bull Salzburg (Aut)
Wolfsburg (Ale)
GROUP H
Chelsea (Eng)
Juventus (Ita)
Zenit (Rus)
Malmö (Sweden)
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