Champions League: Bayern-Man Utd; Napoli-Real Madrid in key Group stage clashes

MONACO — German giants Bayern Munich take on England’s Manchester United while Italy’s Napoli meet multiple-time winners Real Madrid of Spain in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, the draw for which was made here on Thursday.

These key encounters were not the only talking points, what is also being discussed is that French champions Paris Saint-Germain have been paired with Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan of Italy and Newcastle United of England in a tough Group F.

Bayern are in Group A along with United, Copenhagen FC and Galatasaray of Turkey while former England champions Arsenal are in Group B along with Sevilla, PSV Eindhoven and French side Lens.

Defending champions Manchester City are in a relatively easy group with Germany’s Leipzig, Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda and Swiss club Young Boys to contend with.

The group stage matches will be played on September 19-20, October 3-4, October 24-25, November 7-8, November 28-29 and December 12-13 to decide which 16 teams from these groups qualify for the knock-out stages.

The groupings:

Group A: Bayern (GER), Man United (ENG), Copenhagen (DEN), Galatasaray (TUR)

Group B: Sevilla (ESP), Arsenal (ENG), PSV Eindhoven (NED), Lens (FRA)

Group C: Napoli (ITA), Real Madrid (ESP), Braga (POR), Union Berlin (GER)

Group D: Benfica (POR), Inter (ITA), Salzburg (AUT), Real Sociedad (ESP)

Group E: Feyenoord (NED), Atlético de Madrid (ESP), Lazio (ITA), Celtic (SCO)

Group F: Paris (FRA), Dortmund (GER), Milan (ITA), Newcastle (ENG)

Group G: Man City (ENG), Leipzig (GER), Crvena zvezda (SRB), Young Boys (SUI)

Group H: Barcelona (ESP), Porto (POR), Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR), Antwerp (BEL).

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