The Champions League will have a series of rematches of recent finals in the bigger slate of games paired Thursday in the new format of European soccer’s signature competition.
Real Madrid will have re-runs of their past three Champions League title wins, against Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, in a revamped eight-game schedule for each team now the traditional group stage is abolished.
Madrid have added France superstar Kylian Mbappe to their stellar team since beating Dortmund in last season’s final. They also beat Liverpool in the 2022 and 2018 finals among their record 15 European titles.
Madrid will host Dortmund and travel to Liverpool, though the match dates are not confirmed until Saturday.
Manchester City also get a Champions League final reunion — hosting Inter Milan they beat to win their European title in 2023.
Bayern Munich will host Paris Saint-Germain in a rematch of the 2020 final that the German giants won 1-0.
Defending champion Madrid’s slate of opponents also include home games against seven-time European champion AC Milan, Salzburg and Stuttgart with trips to Atalanta — the Europa League winner that Madrid beat in the UEFA Super Cup this month — and twice to France, to play Lille and debutant Brest.
A draw ceremony in Monaco, featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, determined the matchups for the 36 teams in the newly expanded Champions League, which now has a prize fund of at least €2.5 billion.
The traditional 32-team group stage has been replaced by a single league format where each team plays eight games against different opponents through January. The top eight teams advance directly to the round of 16, while teams ranked 9th to 24th enter a knockout playoff, and the bottom 12 teams are eliminated.
Manchester City will face PSG and Juventus away, but have easier home games against Club Brugge, Feyenoord, and Sparta Prague. They also avoid playing Girona, their sister club, due to UEFA integrity rules. Bayern Munich will host Barcelona, whom they famously beat 8-2 in 2020, and travel to Aston Villa. Liverpool will host Bayer Leverkusen, now coached by their former player Xabi Alonso, in a key match.
The new format, created under pressure from influential clubs for more guaranteed games and high-profile matchups, was unveiled in a gala event with Ronaldo and Gianluigi Buffon. The format includes 144 games in the league phase, compared to 96 in the previous group stage, and adds a knockout playoff round, increasing the total number of games to 189.
Unexpected entries include Aston Villa, Bologna, Stuttgart, Girona, and Brest, the latter of which will host defending champions Real Madrid and Leverkusen in a borrowed stadium due to their outdated home ground.
