Champions League draw: Who will Real Madrid play in the league phase? | OneFootball

The Champions League draw has taken place in Monte Carlo, with Real Madrid finding out their opponents for the upcoming league phase. Last season saw the Real Madrid make it through to the play-off round in the league phase, beating Manchester City and Atletico Madrid in the knockout stages. That was before reaching the quarter-final in a disappointing 5-1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal.

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Under new manager Xabi Alonso, Los Blancos will be hoping to look like a fresh side from the one that exited last year, led by Kylian Mbappe. By the time the knockout stages roll around again, Real Madrid will no doubt be among the favourites for the trophy.

Manchester City and Liverpool on the horizon

They will not have an easy league phase though, with fixtures against Liverpool and Manchester City again. While they were successful against City in the knockouts, a 2-0 defeat at Anfield was a chastening experience for Carlo Ancelotti’s men. They represent the headline ties for Alonso, including a return to Anfield for Alonso.

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City will be at home, as will Juventus, the other headline fixture in their draw. Olympique Marseille and AS Monaco complete their home fixtures at the Santiago Bernabeu.n

Lengthy away trip to Champions League newcomers

The away fixtures will see Los Blancos make the short but tricky hop to Lisbon to face Benfica, as well as their journey to Anfield. Another major outfit in Olympiakos awaits them in Athens, but it will be something of an odyssey to Kazakhstan to face Kairat Almaty, who are in the Champions League for the first time after eliminating Celtic on penalties.

The journey will take them over 7,000km to the East, and will see them cross a number of time zones to Almaty, which is close to the Chinese border. The order the games and the dates for them will be announced on Saturday.