Champions League Draw Goes Easy on Premier League Teams

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For Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City, the quest for a first Champions League title will have contrasting assignments in the group stage.

For P.S.G., the initial road will be tough, as it was placed in a group with a Real Madrid side chasing its record-extending 14th European crown.

Manchester City’s road through the group stage, by contrast, appeared relatively straightforward. City, the Premier League champion, was placed in a group without any former champions, and instead will face Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk, Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb and the Italian newcomer Atalanta.

Its largely favorable draw mirrored those of the other Premier League teams in the competition: Liverpool, the defending champion; Tottenham, a beaten finalist last year; and Chelsea.

P.S.G. and Manchester City have never won the competition, even as they have been among the biggest-spending teams of the last decade in European soccer thanks to investment by state-linked ownership from the Persian Gulf.

In Group A, P.S.G. will also face Club Brugge and Galatasaray. In Group C, Manchester City will also take on Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Zagreb while facing doubts about its Champions League participation next season. Abu Dhabi-owned City is being investigated by UEFA, European soccer’s governing body and the organizer of the Champions League, for violations of the body’s financial rules.

Liverpool lifted the European Cup for a sixth time in June and will start the defense of that title with an undemanding group with Napoli the toughest opponent. Red Bull Salzburg and Genk also are in Group E.

One of the most eye-catching set of matchups is in Group F. Barcelona, which won the competition for the last time in 2015, was paired with the former finalist Borussia Dortmund, the former winner Inter Milan and Slavia Prague.

Bayern Munich, which like Barcelona has won the European Cup five times, is in Group B with Tottenham, Olympiakos and Red Star Belgrade.

Group D saw Juventus paired with Atlético Madrid in a swift rematch of their round-of-16 meeting last year, when Cristiano Ronaldo’s second-leg hat trick overturned a 2-0 deficit to send the Italian champions through. Juventus and Atlético will also face Bayer Leverkusen and Lokomotiv Moscow.

Ajax made an unexpected run to the semifinals last year, but had to go through qualifying to reach the group stage. The Dutch club was drawn with Chelsea, which qualified as Europa League champion, Valencia and Lille in Group H.

Group G seems the least appealing for global television audiences: Zenit St. Petersburg, Benfica, Lyon and Leipzig.

The final will be played at Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium on May 30.

DEFENDERS WIN TOP HONORS Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Lyon’s Lucy Bronze were honored as European players of the year.

Van Dijk won the men’s award after helping Liverpool win its sixth European title in June. It is the latest individual acknowledgment for van Dijk, who also was voted player of the year by his fellow professionals in England’s Premier League last season.

Van Dijk, who joined Liverpool from Southampton in 2018 for 75 million pounds (then around $100 million), beat Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to the honor at a ceremony in Monaco.

Bronze has won back-to-back Women’s Champions League titles with Olympique Lyonnais. She also helped England reach the semifinals of the World Cup this summer.



Source : NYtimes