Following the Carabao Cup third-round draw earlier this week, Manchester City have learnt their UEFA Champions League opponents ahead of the inaugural 36-team league phase of the tournament. All competing teams will play 8 matches in the league phase.
The world champions were drawn first out of Pot 1 in the draw to begin the revamped process overnight. Manchester City will play four games at home and four away games throughout the league phase of the UEFA Champions League. At home, the champions will face Inter Milan, Club Brugge, Feyenoord and Sparta Prague. City’s away fixtures are PSG, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon and Slovan Bratislava.
Here’s who we will face in the 2024/25 #UCL league phase! 📋👇 pic.twitter.com/YPqtAcllZV
— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 29, 2024
Perhaps the most enticing fixture will be Manchester City’s clash with Inter Milan at the Etihad. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since Manchester City famously beat Inter Milan in the 2023 Champions League final in Istanbul. Rodri’s second-half rockets famously saw Pep Guardiola’s side lift the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
READ MORE: It’s the small things that separate Manchester City from their rivals.
Away-from-home clashes with PSG and Juventus also look like mouth-watering matches. Both sides will be eager to prove their European pedigree against Pep Guardiola’s side who are one of the favourites for this year’s competition. Although no games are easy in the Champions League, that is a tale Manchester City knows all too well.
Manchester City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain, was looking forward to the challenge posed by the new Champions League format. Speaking after the draw, he said: “Before we had to study three opponents, now we have to think about eight. When you play four at home and four away, I’m thinking more about the away opponents than the ones at home.”
This year’s UEFA Champions League campaign promises to be a test of endurance for Pep Guardiola’s squad. Following the draw yesterday it will be interesting to see how the league stage of the competition unfolds once the competition gets underway next month.
