The ogre was Atlético's turn, but it was Messi and Cristiano who, without being present, were protagonists once again. Barcelona will face Juventus in group G in what represents the reunion of the two cracks after two years without seeing each other on the pitch, since the Portuguese left Madrid in the summer of 2018. It is, without a doubt, the most morbid duel of this new group phase of the Champions League that will begin on October 20 and in which the Real Madrid was the worst unemployed of the Spanish teams after the draw held this Thursday in Geneva.
Real Madrid promised them happy when the Shakhtar role came out for their group, probably the weakest rival in Pot 2. However, his group, B, became one of the toughest in the tournament when the next opponent was Inter, the strongest in Pot 3. The theory is that the whites will play the Nerazzurri for first place but with the Ukrainian team in between, any stumble could be very expensive for both. To top it all, Borussia Monchengladbach, the strongest rival in Pot 4, completes the group.
It happened to Atlético the opposite of Real Madrid. The draw began by pairing him in group A with the great bogeyman, the devastating Bayern from Hansi Flick, but he was luckier than the Whites with his other two rivals, Salzburg and Lokomotiv. On paper, Atlético and Bavarians should not have problems to go to the round of 16 although Salzburg already showed last season, in which they fell in the group with Liverpool and Naples, whom they put in trouble until the last day, that they can compete with anyone.
For its part, the draw for Barcelona was quite benevolent. He avoided the three big favorites in Pot 1 (PSG, Liverpool and Bayern) and although he had a strong rival like Cristiano's Juventus, the Dinamo Kiev and Ferencvaros hardly seem to have the capacity to tickle Barça or Bianconeri.
By last, Sevilla came out quite well stopped. His toughest rival in Group E will be Lampard's new Chelsea, who has renewed his team with the signings of Werner, Havertz, Ziyech and Thiago Silva, among others. He will also face Rennes de Camavinga, in what will be the young French midfielder's first match against a Spanish team, and Krasnodar, which makes its debut in the competition.
In the rest of the groups, the most outstanding thing is the competitiveness that can be in the H, in which are PSG, United, Leipzig and Basaksehir. In C, Guardiola's City was lucky and was paired with lower level rivals while the weakest group is the F, formed by Zenit, Dortmund, Lazio and Bruges.
This is how the group stage of the Champions League remains
Group A: Bayern, Atlético, Salzburg and Lokomotiv.
Grubo B: Real Madrid, Shakhtar, Inter and Monchengladbach
Group C: Porto, Manchester City, Olympiacos and Marseille.
Group D: Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta and Midtjylland.
Group E: Seville, Chelsea, Krasnodar and Rennes.
Group F: Zenit, Dortmund, Lazio and Bruges.
Group G: Juventus, Barcelona, Dinamo Kiev and Ferencvaros.
Group H: PSG, Manchester United, Leipzig and Basaksehir.