The brand new format of the Champions League served as a terrible draw for Liverpool… and a relatively crazy one for Arsenal.
The Gunners and Reds – along with Aston Villa and Manchester City – learned their fate for the continuation of Europe’s elite club competition in 2024/25 on Thursday night.
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The draw for the 2024/25 Champions League was held. Credit: EPA
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The draw for the competition took place at the Grimaldi Forum in MonacoCredit: REUERS
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Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester City have found out their fates for this year’s leg of the competition thanks to a supercomputerCredit: AP
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Cristiano Ronaldo played a big role in the draw, as he was tasked with pressing the most important button Credit: AP
Fans across the continent watched in bewildered fascination as the fixtures for the competition’s new complicated 32-team league were revealed for almost an hour.
It involved Italian goalkeeping legend Gianluigi Buffon pulling teams out of a hat… before a bored-looking Cristiano Ronaldo pressed a magic button repeatedly to randomly determine which eight teams would play.
And Liverpool fans will be cursing their old nemesis Manchester United and their supercomputer after it took them through arguably the competition’s toughest draw.
Arne Slot’s men face tough trips to Italy, Germany, Spain and Holland to face AC Milan, LaLiga surprise packages Girona, PSV Eindhoven and RB Leipzig.
The Reds will host Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Bologna at Anfield.
Arsenal were given a much easier draw compared to the Merseysiders.
The Gunners face a tough trip to Italy where they will face Inter Milan and Atalanta, and will also be on the road for their clashes with Girona and Sporting Lisbon.
While the supercomputer gave Mikel Arteta’s troops home games against Shakhtar Donetsk, GNK Dinamo, Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain.
Meanwhile, Premier League champions Manchester City play away to Juventus, Sporting Lisbon, Slovan Bratislava and Paris Saint-Germain.
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Winners of the 2022/23 season. will host Inter Milan, Club Brugge, Feyenoord and Sparta Prague at the Etihad.
Aston Villa will play against RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Young Boys and Monaco.
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Fans were a bit confused by the complicated new formatCredit: Reuters
Bayern Munich, Juventus Bologna and Celtic will be the Villans’ opponents at Villa Park.
Tournament 2024/25. kicks off a new format for Europe’s elite club competition – now featuring 36 teams instead of 32.
The well-known group stage format has been replaced by ONE league lineup in which teams will play eight matches.
Each side faces two teams from the four seeds.
In the new format, the teams will play four games at home and four away.
The eight best teams will automatically qualify for the round of 16, while the clubs from ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged playoff.
Teams finishing 25th or lower will be eliminated from the tournament and will NOT be relegated to the Europa League.
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This means that eight teams will play TEN games to reach the round of 16, instead of the traditional six.
Arsenal reached the quarter-finals of the tournament last season, but were knocked out 3-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich.
Manchester City, meanwhile, were also eliminated at the quarter-final stage.
The Premier League champions were beaten by last season’s tournament winners Real Madrid on penalties after drawing 4-4 on aggregate.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa and Liverpool were not in Europe’s elite club competition last season.
Villa, who won the old European Cup in 1982, reached the semi-finals of the European Conference League last season.
Unai Emery’s men – who sealed UCL qualification with a fourth-place finish in the Premier League – were eliminated from the Conference League by Greek giants Olympiacos.
Six-time winners Liverpool played in the Europa League last season and were knocked out of the competition at the quarter-final stage by tournament winners Atalanta.
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Source: HIS Education