Champions: Juve with Mou, Roma-Real, an iron group for Napoli

Juventus in group H with Manchester United, Valencia and Young Boys – Roma are more fortunate: yes, Real Madrid draws the reigning champions but the other two teams are more than affordable – In Naples, the team to avoid, Liverpool, and PSG of Buffon: challenge as an ex for Cavani and Ancelotti – Inter started from the fourth tier: he finds himself with Barcelona, Tottenham and Psv.

Good for Juve, very good for Roma, bad for Napoli and Inter. This is how we can summarize, looking at the theoretical values on paper, the draw for the Italian teams in the Champions League. For the first time in 9 seasons, that is, since Mourinho's Inter made the famous treble, there are four Italian teams, but the draw was not all lucky, or at least acceptable. Juventus, in the first pot and among the favorites for the final victory (the final is scheduled for 1 June 2019 in Madrid), doesn't have too much to complain about: in the second urn, the most formidable one, Manchester United picked up, perhaps still briefly coached by Josè Mourinho. Strong but young team, which has been missing from the top European competition for several years. Pogba's return to Turin is suggestive, provided that in the last days of the market the French ace does not end up marrying Barcelona. The third team in group H is Valencia, always formidable but not irresistible Spanish formation, in which the former Juventus player Zaza played last year. The very affordable Swiss Young Boys complete the grouping, qualified for the event through the preliminaries.

On the other hand, things went much worse for Napoli, who started from the second tier and had the second best ranking among the Italian teams: moves to Neymar and Cavani's PSG (team in the past coached by Ancelotti, who will return to Paris as an ex), the the real problem is having chosen the only team to avoid from the third tier, namely Liverpool, finalist of the last edition and further strengthened by the arrival of goalkeeper Alisson. It will be really difficult for the Azzurri to go through. Group C is completed by Red Star Belgrade, who had been missing from the top European competition since 1992: the year before, in 1991, they had surprisingly won the tournament by overcoming Marseille in the final in Bari. Luckiest draw for Roma, semi-finalists of the 2017-18 edition: there is Real Madrid, but the Spanish reigning champions seem to be in a phase of dismantling and have been orphaned by Cristiano Ronaldo since this season. The other two teams are CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen: in short, not going through would be a setback.

Negative urn also for Inter, who have been missing from the Champions League since 2012: Mauro Icardi, the Nerazzurri's symbol player, has never played in this competition. A difficult draw was to be expected given the fourth pot, but it could have gone better: Spalletti's men end up in group B with Barcelona, Tottenham and Psv. On closer inspection, however, it is a group of difficulties comparable to that of Napoli, who however started from the second tier. The buffer group of this edition is instead D, with Lokomotiv Moscow (pot 04 as champions of Russia), Porto, Schalke XNUMX and Galatasaray: two of these teams will go to the round of XNUMX. Group A sees the European super champions Atletico Madrid, who would play the eventual final in their home stadium, the Wanda Metropolitano, with Borussia Dortmund, Monaco, Brugge; in group E finish Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax and AEK Athens; in group F Pep Guardiola will face Shakhtar Donetsk again, like last year, the other two being Lyon and Hoffenheim.

It starts on 18-19 September, while the last round of the group is scheduled for 11-12 December and will be the only one in which all matches will be played simultaneously. The big news of this edition is in fact the double time slot: 18.55pm and 21pm, a bit like it has been working in the Europa League for a few years. The round of 12 will be played from 13 February to 15 March, the quarter-finals will then be drawn on 9 March, which will take place on 10-16 April and 17-30 April. The first leg of the semi-finals will take place on April 1-May 1, with the second leg a week later. The grand final is scheduled for 2010 June in Madrid, a city that evokes good memories for Inter when they return to the Champions League: in 2, at the Santiago Bernabeu, they defeated Bayern 0-XNUMX to win their third cup in their history. Another novelty of this edition is the fourth possible substitution during extra time, as already experienced at the last World Cup in Russia. Instead, there will be no Var: initially UEFA had considered using it at least from the quarter-finals onwards, but the hypothesis has faded. Technology, which after Serie A and the World Cup also made its debut in the Spanish Liga, continues to be a taboo for the Premier League and European competitions.