The draw for the league phase of the UEFA Champions League was made in Monaco on Friday with PSG handed a tough defence.Published On 28 Aug 202528 Aug 2025Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain will play Bayern Munich and Barcelona in this season’s league phase and record 15-times winners Real Madrid will face Manchester City and Liverpool.PSG’s easiest opponents, in theory, in the league phase will be fixtures against England’s Newcastle United and Spain’s Athletic Bilbao.Tottenham, the Europa League champion, also will play PSG in a repeat of their Super Cup game two weeks ago. PSG’s eight-game schedule is completed by Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta and Sporting Lisbon.Real Madrid also got a challenging draw, including a trip far east to play Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan – 6,420 kilometres (4,000 miles) from the Spanish capital.Madrid got two English opponents from the pot of highest-ranked teams, hosting Manchester City, which it beat in the knockout playoffs last season, and a return to Liverpool after losing 2-0 at Anfield in the league phase last year.Madrid also will face Juventus in a repeat of its 2017 final win, and two French opponents, Marseille and Monaco – where superstar forward Kylian Mbappe started his career. Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique lifts the trophy as he celebrates with his players after winning the Champions League [Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters]Liverpool fans will welcome Trent Alexander-Arnold back to Anfield with Madrid, and have away trips to the vibrant stadiums of Inter Milan, Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille and Galatasaray.Bayern Munich will have rematches of two recent finals – at home to FIFA Club World Cup winners Chelsea where the German champion lost the 2012 title game on home turf, and away to PSG, which it beat in the 2020 final. Bayern also will go to Cyprus to face Pafos. Advertisement Manchester City will travel north of the Arctic Circle to face Bodo/Glimt of Norway, and host former fan favourite Kevin De Bruyne with his new club Napoli.Inter Milan, which lost two of the last three finals, will host the top two teams in the Premier League last season, Liverpool and Arsenal. Inter beat Arsenal at the San Siro last season.Kairat also will host Club Brugge, Olympiakos and Pafos. The team also must travel four time zones west to play at Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon.Bodo/Glimt also will host Juventus, Tottenham and Monaco.Qarabag in Azerbaijan is another long-haul trip east to Baku for Chelsea, Eintracht, Ajax and Copenhagen.
What will be the next name on the trophy? ✒️#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/4b1CIsXsES
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