Julien Laurens discusses Lionel Messi being unveiled as a PSG player, and how Messi might finally bring Paris a Champions League title. (1:14).
Manchester City were drawn against Paris Saint-Germain at the group stage of the 2021-22 Champions League. This sets up a potential showdown between Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
ESPN has been informed by sources that Man City is close to a deal with Ronaldo. Messi will embark on his first Champions League campaign in Barcelona since joining PSG earlier in the month.
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Man City defeated PSG 4-1 in aggregate to reach the final of last season's series. Chelsea lost 1-0 at the Estadio do Dragao, Portugal. In Group A, Club Brugge and RB Leipzig were also drawn.
Bayern Munich will take on Barcelona in Group E. This will be their first meeting since Bayern beat Barca 8-2 in August 2020's semifinals.
Holders Chelsea will face Juventus, Zenit St Petersburg, and Malmo in GroupH. This will see Romelu Lukaku, who made the summer switch from Stamford Bridge to Stamford Bridge, make an early return to Italy.
Manchester United were drawn against Villarreal, in Group F. This was a replay of the Europa League final last season, which Unai Emery's team won on penalties.
Liverpool will face Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Group B. This is the same stadium where Atletico Madrid won the Champions League in 2019. Atletico defeated Liverpool in the round 16 of the next season.
AC Milan, second-most successful team in competition history with seven wins will be playing in Group B. This is their first return to Champions League since 2014.
The final of this season will be held at the Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg, Russia, on May 28.
Jorginho, a Chelsea midfielder, won the award for best male player of year ahead of his teammate N'Golo Kante of Man City's Kevin De Bruyne. Alexia Putellas of Barcelona beat Jennifer Hermoso (of Chelsea) and Lieke Martens (of Man City) to win the women’s award.
The UEFA President's Award went to Simon Kjaer, captain of Denmark's medical team, and Christian Eriksen's life-saving efforts at Euro 2020.
GROUP A: Manchester City, England; Paris Saint-Germain (France); RB Leipzig (Germany); Club Brugge in Belgium.
GROUP B: Atletico Madrid (Spain), Liverpool (England), FC Porto (Portugal), AC Milan (Italy).
GROUP C - Sporting CP (Portugal), Borussia Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Ajax [Netherlands], Besiktas (“Turkey”)
GROUP D: Inter Milan (Italy), Real Madrid (Spain), Shakhtar Dontesk (Ukraine), FC Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova).
GROUP E: Bayern Munich (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Benfica (Portugal), Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine).
GROUP F: Villarreal (Spain), Manchester United (England), Atalanta (Italy), Young Boys (Switzerland).
GROUP G: Lille (France), Sevilla (Spain), FC Salzburg (Austria), Wolfsburg (Germany).
GROUP H: Chelsea (England), Juventus (Italy), Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia), Malmo (Sweden).
