This year’s UEFA Champions League group stage fixtures have been confirmed in Istanbul today, with six British clubs waiting to find out their continental fates for the coming campaign.
From the Premier League last season’s finalists Liverpool were joined in the draw by domestic champions Manchester City, 2021 Champions League winners Chelsea, and 2019 finalists Tottenham Hotspur.
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North of the border, both Celtic and Rangers will have been hoping for favourable draws, with the latter relying on a dramatic play-off victory over PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday evening to book their place in the competition proper.
Of the six clubs, Man City were the only side to be included in Pot One of the draw, alongside the likes of Real Madrid, AC Milan, PSG, and Bayern Munich.
Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham were all in Pot Two, as are Juventus, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid, among others.
Meanwhile, both Celtic and Rangers found themselves in Pot Four, all but guaranteeing them a testing passage to the knockout stages.
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Check out our live blog from the draw below for all of the latest draw updates as they happen...
Champions League group stage draw: As it happened
2022/23 Champions League group stage draw LIVE
Hello, and welcome to our Champions League group stage draw live blog. We’ll be keeping you up to date with proceedings in Istanbul, as European football’s top sides await their respective fates.
Tricky trips to Scotland could await the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Spurs, after Rangers joined Celtic in the group stage after beating PSV in their final qualification match last night.
A look at the pots
While we wait for the customary period of ‘faffing around’ that inevitably precedes such events, here are the pots in full:
Pot 1: AC Milan, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt, Manchester City, , Paris St-Germain, Porto, Real Madrid.
Pot 2: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Juventus, Liverpool, RB Leipzig, Sevilla, Tottenham.
Pot 3: Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Napoli, RB Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Lisbon.
Pot 4: Celtic, Club Bruges, Copenhagen, Dinamo Zagreb, Viktoria Plzen, Maccabi Haifa, Marseille, Rangers.
Awards time
It wouldn’t be a UEFA event without a touch of customary backslapping, and right on cue, we’ve got a few awards to rattle through.
The President’s Award goes to Arrigo Sacchi. Moment of the draw so far goes to Luis Figo taking a photo of him from the front row like your mum at a school play.
Can’t help feeling his acceptance speech would be a lot more impactful if I spoke Italian.
Yaya Yaya Yaya Yaya Yaya Yaya Yaya Toure
Hamit Altintop has just brought the famous trophy out on to the stage. Looks absolutely terrified.
More importantly though, Yaya Toure is here! Get that man a cake.
Pot One
The clubs from Pot One have been allocated the following groups...
Group A - Ajax
Group B - FC Porto
Group C - Bayern Munich
Group D - Eintracht Frankfurt
Group E - AC Milan
Group F - Real Madrid
Group G - Manchester City
Group H - Paris Saint-Germain
Pot Two
The groups now look like this after the teams from Pot Two have been drawn...
Group A - Ajax, Liverpool
Group B - FC Porto, Atletico Madrid
Group C - Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona
Group D - Eintracht Frankfurt, Tottenham Hotspur
Group E - AC Milan, Chelsea
Group F - Real Madrid, RB Leipzig
Group G - Manchester City, Sevilla
Group H - Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus