Atletico Madrid, Athletic Club and Villarreal discover Champions League schedules | OneFootball

Atletico Madrid, Athletic Club and Villarreal have now discovered their schedule for the league phase of this season’s Champions League, following Thursday’s draw. All three clubs will be aiming to reach the knockout stages of the competition, which they are each very capable of doing.

Atleti handed very tricky start to league phase

Atleti start their campaign at Anfield, before hosting Eintracht Frankfurt at the RiyadhAir Metropolitano. They travel to England for the second time on MD3 to face Arsenal, then Union Saint-Gilloise and Inter in back-to-back home matches.

PSV away is next before another trip to Istanbul to take on Galatasaray. Diego Simeone’s side end the league phase on the own turf, where they will face Bodø/Glimt.

Athletic start at San Mames in Champions League return

Athletic’s first match back in the Champions League is a glamorous one, as they host Arsenal at San Mames. After that, they face tricky trips to Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United on MD2 and MD4 respectively, with a home match against Qarabag sandwiched in between.

The second half of Athletic’s league phase starts in Prague, where they face Slavia Praha. Another glamour match follows as they host European champions Paris Saint-Germain, before a trip to Atalanta. Their final match is at home to Sporting CP.

No respite for Villarreal on their Champions League return

Villarreal have arguably been handed the toughest start to the league phase, as they begin with matches against Tottenham Hotspur (away), Juventus (home) and Manchester City (home). Back-to-back away trips follow against Pafos and Dortmund, before fixtures at La Ceramica against FC Copenhagen and Ajax, before their final game in Germany against Bayer Leverkusen.

It will be very interesting to see how each clubs gets on during their respective league phase campaigns. Atleti will believe that they can finish inside the top eight, while Athletic and Villarreal would surely be content with a play-off place.