AC Milan vs Liverpool, Man City vs Inter Milan in Gameweek 1: UEFA announce schedule for new CL format
New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) UEFA announced the schedule for the 2024/25 Champions League following the draw that took place on Thursday. This will be the first ever edition of the new format of the premier European club competition which consists of 36 teams as opposed to the previous 32.
The fans even got to witness a different system of drawing the fixture. Instead of two hosts selecting ballots with team’s names on it, one host took out a name of a team following which an automated system chose the opponents for the said team.
Liverpool and Manchester City will be beginning their Champions League campaign against the two Milan clubs. Liverpool will travel to San Siro to face off against AC Milan whereas Inter will play the English champions at the Etihad Stadium. Defending champions Real Madrid will begin their campaign at home against Stuttgart. Arsenal will be playing Europa League winners, Atalanta whereas Monaco will host FC Barcelona in what is an exciting opening gameweek/
The original format comprised eight groups of four team each with all teams playing two games (home and away) against their group members. However according to the new format there will be a league phase in the tournament with each team having to play eight games against different opponents. The top eight placed teams will be placed in the Round of 16 whereas the teams that have finished from 9th-24th will play a pre-quarter final round following which the regular knockout stage will continue.
Top UCL fixtures:
Matchday One
September 17-19
AC-Milan Vs Liverpool
Manchester City vs Inter Milan
Monaco vs FC Barcelona
Real Madrid vs VFB Stuttgart
Atalanta vs Arsenal
Matchday Two
October 1-2
Arsenal vs PSG
Bayer Leverkusen vs AC Milan
Aston Villa vs Bayern Munich
RB Leipzig vs Juventus
Matchday Three
October 22-23
Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund ‘
FC Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
Matchday Four
November 5-6
Liverpool vs Bayer Leverkusen
Real Madrid vs AC Milan
Inter Milan vs Arsenal
Paris Saint Germain vs Atletico Madrid
Matchday Five
November 26-27
Bayern Munich vs Paris Saint Germain
Liverpool vs Real Madrid
Aston Villa vs Juventus
Matchday Six
December 10-11
Bayer Leverkusen vs Inter Milan
Juventus vs Manchester City
Borussia Dortmund vs FC Barcelona
Matchday Seven
January 21-22
Atletico Madrid vs Bayer Leverkusen
Paris Saint Germain vs Manchester City
Matchday Eight
January 29
Barcelona vs Atalanta
Girona vs Arsenal
Inter Milan vs Monaco
–IANS
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