The Champions League group stage draw was made on Thursday with a plethora of stand-out fixtures for the five English clubs.
Here, we take a look at one particularly intriguing game each for Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United as the quintet look to end PSG’s recent dominance in the competition.
Arsenal v Real Madrid
The Gunners have been handed arguably one of the toughest sets of fixtures of all the English clubs, starting with a home meeting against 15-time European kings Real Madrid.
The two teams have only met on four occasions before, with Arsenal coming out on top across two legs on both occasions. The last meeting was in the 2024-25 campaign when Mikel Arteta’s men sealed a rampant 3-0 home win before going to the Bernabeu and clinching a famous 2-1 victory to reach the semi-finals.
Their only previous clashes were in the 2005-06 season when the Gunners again got the better of the Spanish side, with a slender 1-0 aggregate win in the round of 16. That season saw Arsene Wenger’s side lose out to Barcelona in the final.
Barcelona v Aston Villa
A mouth-watering fixture is in prospect for a new-look Aston Villa this season. The Europa League champions will head to the Nou Camp in the second matchday of this year’s Champions League.
It will evoke memories of past meetings with Barca in the UEFA Cup and Super Cup from the 1970s and 1980s. Villa’s schedule for this year looks particularly challenging with other notable games including a meeting at home to back-to-champions PSG and Galatasary away.
Liverpool v Atletico Madrid
When these two meet there’s usually always drama. The Reds have won the last three meetings against Diego Simeone’s men in Europe’s blue riband competition but the most famous meeting was undoubtedly the 2019-20 round of 16 clash that preceeded the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Atleti sealed a dramatic 3-2 win at Anfield in a game that had it all. Expect more talking points when these two collide on Merseyside on matchday one.
Manchester City v PSG
They don’t come much bigger than this blockbuster tie. Again, this takes place on the opening midweek of matches and the Etihad encounter is sure to provide drama. PSG are aiming to become only the fourth team to win the European Cup three seasons in a row (Real Madrid, Ajax and Bayern Munich are the others to have done so).
Their most recent meeting saw PSG triumph 4-2 at home two seasons ago after City collapsed after going 2-0 up in the French capital. With City likely to be fielding a flurry of new signings, expect plenty of fireworks.
Manchester United v Bayern Munich
Two iconic names in European football meet for the first time in three seasons. This match will always conjure up memories of ‘that’ epic Champions League final in 1999 when Sir Alex Ferguson’s men famously lifted the European Cup in the most dramatic of circumstances with Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer both climbing off the bench to score and complete a fabulous turnaround.
Bayern have had United’s number since then, losing just one of then subsequent CL matches. United will now want revenge when they meet at Old Trafford in this season’s opener.
English clubs’ fixture lists in full:
Arsenal: Real Madrid (home), Bayern Munich (away), Borussia Dortmund (home), Real Betis (away), Lille (home), Napoli (away), Sabah (home), Slavia Prague (away)
Aston Villa: PSG (home), Barcelona (away), Borussia Dortmund (home), Club Brugge (away), Fenerbahce (home), Galatasaray (away), Viking (home), Slavia Prague (away)
Liverpool: Atletico Madrid (home), Inter Milan (away), Porto (home), Club Brugge (away), Villarreal (home), Fenerbahce (away), Lens (home), LASK (away)
Manchester City: PSG (home), Barcelona (away), Sporting Club (home), Porto (away), Napoli (home), Leipzig (away), AEK Athens (home), Lens (away)
Manchester United: Bayern Munich (home), Atletico Madrid (away), Roma (home), Sporting Club (away), Leipzig (home), Villarreal (away), Sabah (home), Como (away)
