The draw held in Istanbul gave life to the new season of the Champions League after the prequalification games were concluded the day before. The road to the final began back in June with the first qualifying round, and now, the field of 78 teams has been whittled down to 32 and the groups have been drawn. Real Madrid will face RB Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic in the Champions League group stage after the draw took place in Istanbul.
How it worked: Teams were divided into four pots based on their UEFA club coefficients. One team from each of the pots was then drawn into the eight groups, A–H. There were a few caveats: no team could play a club from their own association, and sides from the same association were paired to ensure they play on different nights. In addition, this group stage draw threw up some stellar ties, with Bayern in a group with Barcelona and Inter, while Liverpool and Manchester City were given tough starts to their campaigns.
As the pots were arranged according to UEFA's coefficient rankings, the initial pots for the draw of the champions league group stage looked like this:
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Múnich, PSG, Milan, Oporto, Ajax y Eintracht de Frankfurt.
Pot 2: Barcelona, Liverpool, Atlético de Madrid, Sevilla, Chelsea, Tottenham, Juventus y Leipzig.
Pot 3: Borussia Dortmund, Salzburgo, Shakhtar Donetsk, Inter, Nápoles, Benfica, Sporting de Portugal y Bayer Leverkusen.
Pot 4: Glasgow Rangers, Dinamo Zagreb, Olympique de Marsella, Copenhage, Brujas, Celtic, Viktoria Plzen y Maccabi Haifa.
The final draw put Ancelotti’s men in Group F and will kick off on 6 or 7 September. The group stage will end on 2 November. A quick view on the opponents:
RB LEIPZIG: The current champions of the German Cup, managed by Domenico Tedesco, have never faced Real Madrid in a European competition. This summer the German side re-signed Timo Werner, who is Leipzig’s all-time top goal scorer, from Chelsea.
SHAKHTAR DONETSK: The Ukranian outfit have gone head-to-head with Real Madrid on six occasions in the European competition, and the Whites have a record of 4-2 in their favour. The last time these two sides met was in the group stage last season, when the madridistas clinched a 2-1 victory. Due to the war in Ukraine, Shakhtar will be playing their home games in Warsaw (Poland) in the Champions League.
CELTIC: The defending Scottish league champions are a club with a big history in Europe and have faced Madrid on two occasions, with a win apiece. The last time they faced each other was in the quarter-finals of the European Cup in the 1979/80 campaign, which ended in a 3-0 victory for our side
After the sorting, Butragueño addressed the media and said the following: “This is the Champions League and every game is extremely difficult. We have to go into it with desire. Last season was magical for us and that fighting and winning spirit is what we’ll be trying to display on the pitch once again. We always want to win every game, that’s our objective, but we’re aware of the difficulties. Leipzig got to the semi-finals a few years ago, we know Shakhtar very well because we’ve played them several times, and then playing Celtic over there, with such a great atmosphere, will be a difficult test. We have to be prepared. This competition is really special and every moment can be decisive”.
Praise for Benzema and Ancelotti: “We are extremely proud of both of them. They are two extraordinary professionals and highly committed to the club. In Karim's case, it's a privilege to be able to have him; it's wonderful for football to have players like him. It is also a nice thing for Carlo, who has taken on a responsibility and a leadership role that has transformed him into a key player in our successes".
THE 2022/23 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUPS
Group A: Ajax, Liverpool, Napoli, Rangers
Group B: Porto, Atlético, Leverkusen, Club Brugge
Group C: Bayern, Barcelona, Inter, Plzeň
Group D: Frankfurt, Tottenham, Sporting, Marseille
Group E: Milan, Chelsea, Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb
Group F: Real Madrid, RB Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk, Celtic
Group G: Man. City, Sevilla, Dortmund, Copenhagen
Group H: Paris, Juventus, Benfica, Maccabi Haifa
Real Madrid now know their fixture list for the Champions League 2022/23 Group Stage. Our team get their campaign underway against Celtic in Glasgow on Tuesday 6 September at 9:00pm.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE FIXTURES:
Matchday 1: Celtic-Real Madrid (Tuesday 6/09/22; 9:00pm).
Matchday 2: Real Madrid-Leipzig (Wednesday 14/09/22; 9:00pm).
Matchday 3: Real Madrid-Shakhtar Donetsk (Wednesday 5/10/22; 9:00pm).
Matchday 4: Shakhtar Donetsk-Real Madrid (Tuesday 11/10/22; 9:00pm).
Matchday 5: Leipzig-Real Madrid (Tuesday 25/10/22; 9:00pm).
Matchday 6: Real Madrid-Celtic (Wednesday 2/11/22; 6:45pm).
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