The newly revamped Champions League format has dealt Liverpool a nightmarish draw, while Arsenal’s outcome is decidedly more favorable.
On Thursday evening, the fates of Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Manchester City were revealed for the 2024/25 Champions League season. Fans across Europe watched with a mix of confusion and fascination as the elaborate draw for the 32-team league format was unveiled over nearly an hour.
Italian goalkeeping legend Gianluigi Buffon picked teams from a hat, while a visibly uninterested Cristiano Ronaldo repeatedly pressed a button to randomly assign the teams to their respective groups.
Liverpool supporters are likely to be grumbling about Ronaldo and his algorithm after their team received what could be the toughest draw of the competition. Under Arne Slot, Liverpool faces challenging trips to AC Milan, LaLiga’s Girona, PSV Eindhoven, and RB Leipzig. At Anfield, they will host Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, and Bologna.
In contrast, Arsenal drew a significantly softer set of fixtures. The Gunners will travel to Italy to face Inter Milan and Atalanta and also visit Girona and Sporting Lisbon. However, they will enjoy home games against Shakhtar Donetsk, GNK Dinamo, Monaco, and Paris Saint-Germain.
Manchester City will journey to Juventus, Sporting Lisbon, Slovan Bratislava, and Paris Saint-Germain, while hosting Inter Milan, Club Brugge, Feyenoord, and Sparta Prague at the Etihad.
Aston Villa will face RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Young Boys, and Monaco on the road and host Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bologna, and Celtic at Villa Park.
The 2024/25 season introduces a new format for Europe’s top club competition, expanding to 36 teams and replacing the familiar group stage with a single league format. Each team will play eight matches—four at home and four away—against opponents from different seeding pots.
The top eight teams will advance directly to the last 16, while those finishing 9th through 24th will compete in a two-legged playoff. Teams that finish 25th or lower will be eliminated without moving to the Europa League. Consequently, eight teams will play ten matches to reach the last 16, a change from the previous six-game format.
Arsenal, who made it to the quarter-finals last season, were eliminated by Bayern Munich with a 3-2 aggregate score. Manchester City also fell in the quarter-finals, losing to Real Madrid on penalties after a 4-4 aggregate tie.
Aston Villa and Liverpool were absent from the Champions League last season. Villa, having qualified through a fourth-place Premier League finish, were ousted from the Europa Conference League semi-finals by Olympiacos. Liverpool, who competed in the Europa League, were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Atalanta, the eventual winners.
