Champions League Draw: Groups, Matchups Set For UEFA’s Top Tournament

The soccer world now can start previewing the action the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League will feature.

UEFA conducted the Champions League group-stage draw Thursday, setting the groups, matchups and schedule for this year’s edition of European men’s club soccer’s elite competition. UEFA sorted the 32 teams into eight groups, and the tournament will begin under its traditional home-and-away, round-robin format.

Here are the 2020 Champions League groups.

Group A: Bayern Munich; Atletico Madrid; RB Salzburg; Lokomotiv Moscow
Group B: Real Madrid; Shakhtar Donetsk; Inter Milan; Monchengladbach
Group C: Porto; Manchester City; Olympiakos; Marseille
Group D: Liverpool; Ajax; Atalanta; Midtjylland
Group E: Sevilla; Chelsea; Krasnodar; Rennes
Group F: Zenit St. Petersburg; Borussia Dortmund; Lazio; Club Brugge
Group G: Juventus; Barcelona; Dynamo Kiev; Ferencvaros
Group H: PSG; Manchester United; RB Leipzig; Istanbul Basaksehir

The early buzz centers around Group G, where Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus will take on Lionel Messi’s Barcelona. These Juventus-Barcelona matchups likely will add fresh entries in the rivalry these soccer legends have shared for over a decade.

Be sure to listen to this week’s episode of the “NESN Soccer Podcast,” in which CBS’ Ian Joy will join NESN.com’s Marcus Kwesi O’Mard and Marc DiBenedetto to break down the Champions League groups.

The Champions League group stage will begin Oct. 20 and 21 on Gameday 1. The group stage will end Dec. 8 and 9 on Gameday 6.