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Liverpool draw Ajax while Manchester United handed tough assignment in Champions League group stage

Liverpool draw Ajax while Manchester United handed tough assignment in Champions League group stage
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The group stage will also see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi renew their rivalry.

Liverpool will take on Ajax, Atalanta and Midtjylland in the group stages of the Champions League, which will also see Barcelona face Juventus following Thursday’s draw in Geneva.

The Premier League champions, who have won the European Cup six times, were one of the eight top seeds and went into Group D.

European heavyweights Barca, thrashed 8-2 by eventual champions Bayern Munich in last season’s one-off quarter-finals, were drawn together with Juve in Group G – which will see Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo renew their rivalry.

Group G is completed by Dynamo Kyiv and Hungarian side Ferencvaros.

Manchester City have been drawn alongside Porto, Olympiacos and Marseille in Group C.

Manchester United are in Group H, where they will take on last season’s runners-up Paris St Germain as well as RB Leipzig and Istanbul Basaksehir.

Former United full-back Rafael da Silva signed for the Reds’ Turkish opponents last month and he is relishing a return to Old Trafford.

The Brazilian wrote on Twitter (orafa2): “Back to where everything start dreams come true.”

In Group E, Chelsea have been drawn alongside Europa League winners Sevilla, Krasnodar and Rennes.

Holders Bayern Munich are in Group A along with Atletico Madrid, Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moscow.

Group B will see Real Madrid, who hold a record 13 European Cup titles, face Inter Milan, Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Monchengladbach.

Zenit St Petersburg are top seeds in Group F, where they will take on Borussia Dortmund, Lazio and Club Brugge.

The opening Champions League group fixtures will take place on October 20 and 21, with the scheduling set to be confirmed on Friday evening.

The 2021 Champions League final is set to be held at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul on May 29.

During the ceremony, Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne was named Champions League men’s midfielder of the season.

“It’s really nice. In the Champions League you play against the best players in world and I want to compete with them,” the Belgium international said in a broadcast on the UEFA website.

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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool23175156213556
2Arsenal24148249222750
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest24145540271347
4Chelsea24127547311643
5Manchester CityMan City24125748351341
6Newcastle UnitedNewcastle24125742291341
7Bournemouth24117641281340
8Aston Villa2410773437-337
9Fulham249963632436
10Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton2481063538-334
11Brentford2494114242031
12Crystal Palace247982830-230
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd2485112834-629
14Tottenham HotspurSpurs24831348371127
15West Ham UnitedWest Ham2476112946-1727
16Everton236892328-526
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves2454153452-1819
18Leicester CityLeicester2445152553-2817
19Ipswich TownIpswich2437142249-2716
20Southampton2423191854-369


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