Cristiano Ronaldo against Messi: it had never happened in the same Champions League group, but now the two multiple Ballon d'Or winners of recent years will meet in the group G, made up of Juventus, Barcelona, Dinamo Kiev and Ferencváros. A grouping that in theory will see both the black and whites and the Catalans pass comfortably, but which on the other hand will give us a final challenge already in the autumn. This is the main, but not the only starting point for the Champions League draws for the Italian teams: also noteworthy is Inter's match against Real Madrid (group B with Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Mönchengladbach), the fascinating group drawn by Atalanta (with Liverpool, Ajax and debutants from Midtjylland in group D) and the rather soft one, at least on paper, which happened to Lazio, who found Zenit as top seed, then Borussia Dortmund and Bruges in group F.
As for the others, defending champions (and first team in the UEFA rankings) Bayern Munich end up in group A, finding a very uncomfortable opponent like Atletico Madrid, fresh from the purchase of Luis Suarez. Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moscow will be with them, probably only as extras. Manchester City finds feasible opponents in group C, considering that Guardiola's club was not seeded: Porto, Olimpiacos, Marseille. Not bad for Chelsea either, who starting from the second tier draw Porto, Krasnodar and Rennes. Finally, group H, with the finalists of the last edition, Paris, which will be the turn of Manchester United, Leipzig and Istanbul (where the final will be played on 29 May 2021).
Therefore, another edition of the Champions League marked by Covid is starting later than usual: there are 32 participating teams, 26 of which qualified by right through the national championships and 6 from the summer qualifiers concluded with this week's playoffs. The first day is set for October 20-21 while the grand final will be played in Istanbul, Turkey on May 29, 2021.
