The Champions League is back and Manchester City will discover their opponents in the new-look competition on Thursday.
The 2024/25 season is now in full swing and nothing ensures proceeds are properly back underway than when the cup competitions begin.
Manchester City now know they will face Watford in the third round of the Carabao Cup and will today learn their opponents in the Champions League.
The draw for the revamped ‘league phase’, which has taken the place of the scrapped group stage, will take place from 5 pm and it’s a massive departure from how the tournament used to run.
Instead of eight groups of four, 36 teams – up from 32 – will be ranked in the same league table but teams will only play eight different opponents and they will face them just once.
The teams are split into four pots of nine and each club will be drawn against two teams from every pot, including the one they are in, so City are guaranteed to face some big names in the opening stage of the tournament.
Pep Guardiola will discover who he has to prepare his side for this afternoon and you can follow the draw in its entirety LIVE right here.
Elsewhere…
Real Madrid: Dortmund, Liverpool, AC Milan Atalanta, Salzburg, Lille, Stuttgart,. Brest
Bayern Munich: PSG, Barcelona, Benfica, Shakhtar, Zagreb, Feyenoord, Bratislava, Aston Villa.
PSG: City, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal. PSV, Salzburg, Girona, Stuttgart.
Liverpool: Real Madrid, Leipzig, Leverkusen, AC Milan, Lille, PSV, Bolgona, Girona.
Inter: Leipzig, City, Arsenal, Leverkusen, Red Star, Young Boys, Monaco, Prague.
Dortmund: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Shakhtar, Brugge, Celtic, Zagreb, Sturm Graz, Bologna.
Leipzig: Liverpool, Inter, Juventus, Atletico, Sporting, Celtic, Villa, Sturm Graz.
Barcelona: Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Atalanta, Benfica, Young Boys, Red Star, Brest, Monaco.
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City’s first opponent are…
City have drawn Inter, PSG, Club Brugge, Juventus, Feyenoord, Sporting, Spoarta Praha, S.Bratislava.
[Link]Here we go
The draw is about to begin. Buffon will draw the teams while Ronaldo will press the automated button.
[Link]How the draw works
Teams will be manually drawn from Pot 1 first and then their eight opponents will then be automated. After all nine teams are out of Pot 1, the process will start again with the following pots until all teams have been drawn and know their opponents and whether they are playing them home or away.
The order the fixtures are drawn does not represent the order in which they are played.
[Link]Fixture order not announced today
Though we will learn who City will face today, the actual order of the fixtures won’t be announced until Saturday.
[Link]A weird strategy
UEFA are now showing us a glitzy advert with famous players – including Rodri and Ruben Dias – legends, like Buffon and Luis Figo, and pundits saying how confused they are about the new format.
UEFA president Ceferin is telling them all it’s not confusing at all and now he’s facing up to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
It’s a weird one for UEFA to explicitly say their own format is confusing – they have even just made a Super League joke, too! – but it’s a pretty good advert if not a whole lot cringy.
[Link]That’s it from Ronaldo
After plugging his museum and reminding everyone he plays in the Asian Champions League – ‘don’t forget that’ – Ronaldo’s interview is done and we’re heading for the draw.
[Link]Now Ronaldo is here
Joining Buffon on stage is Cristiano Ronaldo. He has been handed an award for scoring the most goals in the tournament’s history with 140.
[Link]The winner is…
Gigi Buffon has been handed the President’s Award and he’s now heading to the stage.
[Link]Rewards first
Before the draw can be made we have to give out some awards of course! First up it’s the President’s Award.
[Link]Time for the explainer
Today’s draw hosts are now giving the lowdown on the new format changes. You can find all the info you need without UEFA’s propaganda in our blog below.
[Link]A great start
The draw begins with a live singing performance of the Champions League anthem (which has actually been changed this season with some new flourishes). A great way to start. Yay.
The Champions League highlights being played at the same time are a good watch, though, to be fair.
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New City signing revealed
Young striker Divin Mubama has confirmed he has signed for City on his Instagram account.
Knockout stage schedule
Knockout round play-offs: February 11/12 & 18/19, 2025
Round of 16: March 4/5 & 11/12, 2025
Quarter-finals: April 8/9 & 15/16, 2025
Semi-finals: April 29/30 & May 6/7, 2025
Final: May 31, 2025
[Link]What time is today’s draw?
The draw officially gets underway at 5 pm but we don’t know how long it will take until UEFA start picking teams out of the hat.
We also don’t know how long it will take given it’s the first time a draw of this kind has occurred. AI will be used to help the process due to the increased amount of fixtures.
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How do teams qualify for the new Champions League knockout stages?
The top eight sides in the league will qualify automatically for the round of 16. The teams finishing 9th to 24th will compete in a new two-legged knock-out phase play-off to determine the last 16 teams.
Teams that finish 9th-16th will be drawn against teams between 17th-24th in the play-off and should have the second leg at home.
The teams that advance through the play-offs will then face one of the teams that qualified automatically in the last 16.
Teams finishing 25th or lower will be eliminated and there is no longer access to the Europa League.
After the play-off phase, the competition will continue as it does now.
[Link]Four City players in the England squad
Elsewhere, Rico Lewis and Jack Grealish are back in the England squad.
What are the Champions League 2024/25 changes and how do they work?
The Champions League as we have come to know it will be completely different from this season onwards.
The competition has been expanded from 32 teams to 36 and the group stages have been replaced with a ‘league phase.’
Rather than having eight groups of four face one another twice, with the top two advancing to the knockouts, all 36 clubs will be placed in a single league table and ranked together.
However, despite being in the same league, the clubs will not be competing against everyone in the table.
Instead of playing six fixtures – three teams twice, both home and away – teams will now play eight matches against eight different teams. Half of them will be at home and half away.
To determine each team’s opponents, all 36 clubs will be seeded into four pots. Each team will be drawn to play two opponents from each pot, including the one they are in, and will face one team from each pot at home and the other one away.
As a result, City will be coming against at least two of Europe’s best teams in the opening stage of this year’s competition and playing at least two additional fixtures.
Match schedule
City will play two additional matches in the opening stage compared to last season, with the league phase not concluding until the end of January.
Matchday 1: 17–19 September 2024
Matchday 2: 1/2 October 2024
Matchday 3: 22/23 October 2024
Matchday 4: 5/6 November 2024
Matchday 5: 26/27 November 2024
Matchday 6: 10/11 December 2024
Matchday 7: 21/22 January 2025
Matchday 8: 29 January 2025
[Link]The new league format
How the new Champions League league phase works.
Who could City face in the Champions League league phase?
Teams still can’t play one another from the same country in the league phase, so City won’t be drawn against Aston Villa, Arsenal or Liverpool.
However, they can face any of the remaining 32 teams and could even come up against sister club Girona.
Best possible Man City Champions League draw: Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb or Qarabag, Sturm Graz, Midtjylland or Slovan Bratislava.
Worst possible Man City Champions League draw: Real Madrid, Inter, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, PSV, Sporting, Bologna, Stuttgart.
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What pot are City in?
City are predictably in Pot 1.
Pot 1: City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Barcelona, Inter,PSG, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig.
Pot 2: Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Atalanta, Benfica, Arsenal, CLub Brugge, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan.
Pot 3: Feyenoord, Sporting, PSV, Celtic, Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb, Lille, RB Salzburg, Red Star.
Pot 4: Aston Villa, Sparta Prague, Monaco, Bologna, Girona, Stuttgart, Sturm Graz, Brest, Slovan Bratislava.
[Link]Good afternoon
Welcome to MCN’s LIVE coverage of this evening’s Champions League draw as Manchester City learn their eight opponents in the league phase.
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