A Champions of reunions

Lewandowski celebrates a goal against Lazio in the last 16 of the Champions League.Matthias Schrader / AP

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League brought mixed luck for the Spanish teams at the same time that it led to a confrontation plagued with morbidity with the duel between the two state clubs, Messi's PSG and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. Barcelona will face their 2-8 revenge with Bayern, although their other two rivals, Benfica and Dinamo Kiev, are affordable. Atlético has been lucky enough to have a more complex group, with Liverpool, Milan and Porto. Between the three they add 15 European Cups. Villarreal will offer Manchester United a rematch of the Europa League final and will see if Atalanta maintains its progression. The Swiss Young Boys is presented as the weakest rival of the Emery. In the beginning, Sevilla has been the most benefited by being paired with Lille,the German Salzburg and Wolfsburg. It was not bad for Madrid either, who will repeat last year's clashes against Inter and Shakhtar, and will meet the debutant Sheriff.

More information

• A 'rebel' Champions League

• Sheriff Tiraspol, from a country that 'does not exist' to the Champions League

Barcelona.

The nightmare of the win and two classics

Barça has traveled Europe without a seatbelt since they won the title in Berlin 2015. Killed in Rome (2018), Liverpool (2019) and Lisbon (2020), and? Defeated by Atlético (2016) and Juventus (2017), The Catalans have lost the status of favorites and in each draw they are exposed to difficult and unpleasant crosses such as those that will now face Bayern Munich, Benfica and Dinamo Kiev.

Barcelonismo still hurts the 2-8 conceded a year ago against the Germans in Lisbon with two final goals from Coutinho.

That result triggered one of the most serious crises in the history of Barça, expressed in Messi's burofax, then retained and now released to play for PSG. The Bavarian team then won the Champions League with players still on the payroll such as Neuer, Kimmich, Müller, Goretzka, Gnabry and Lewandowski. The novelties are the central Upamecano, after losing the current Madrid player Alaba, and the 33-year-old coach Julian Nagelsmann, from Leipzig and for whom Bayern paid a record figure of 25 million.

Barça will return to Lisbon, against Benfica, the team that defeated them in the 1961 Berne final and also the one that Koeman was coaching when he fell for the last time at the Camp Nou.

The Portuguese have completed a very competitive squad that eliminated PSV in the previous one.

The return of coach Jorge Jesús has raised the spirits of a squad that has interesting players such as Yaremchuck, Joao Mario, Otamendi, Darwin Núñez, Vertonghen, Weigl and Grimaldo.

Lightscu's Dynamo Kiev is also a classic for Barça.

A regular champion of Ukraine, he has a young generation of footballers - Tsygankov, Verbic or Shaparenkoque - and he made a very good impression on his last visit to the Camp Nou last season.

Athletic.

A tough group with three champions

Atlético and Liverpool are the two favorites to reach the round of 16, in a group in which Milan and Porto, both champions of the competition, like the

Reds

, a priori will not be two mere comparsas. Those of Simeone and Jürgen Klopp will star in the rematch of the round of 16 tie two seasons ago, in which Marcos Llorente began his explosion with two goals at Anfield. Klopp's team maintains its idea of ​​playing at full throttle and also the block, except for the departure of Wijnaldum. Salah, Firmino, Mané and Diogo Jota are his great offensive assets. In defense, the recovery of Van Dijk, already recovered from his serious knee injury, is one of the great news for Klopp. However, he has strengthened the defense with the signing of Konaté (40 million), from Leipzig. Milan return to the Champions League eight years later and in their last participation they were eliminated by Atlético in the second round. With Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the big star, the presence of Theo Hernández,Raised in the rojiblanca quarry before signing for Real Madrid, he adds morbidity to the confrontation. The loss of goal Donnarumma is sensitive and to replace him Pioli has chosen Maignan, who won the French League with Lille and for whom he has paid 15 million. Together with Ibrahimovic, Brahim Díaz, Giroud, signed from Chelsea, wingers Leão and Saelemaekers are his best assets.

Porto, with Pepe as head of defense, is a tough team and worked by Sergio Conceiçao in which Spanish striker Toni Martínez is standing out with three goals at the start of the season.

Another Pepe, a Brazilian winger from the Guild, is the great bet for the future of the Portuguese club.

Real Madrid.

Recent rivals and cinderella

The immediate past and an exotic touch is what awaits Real Madrid in the group stage, in which they will meet two of the previous year's rivals in this same round (Inter and Shakhtar), and with the unprecedented Sheriff Tiraspol , originally from Transnitria, a self-proclaimed independent Moldovan region in 1990 that football has just put on the map. One of those corners of Eastern Europe that has a political conflict, including war at the end of the last century, unknown in this case to the general public but coincidentally the Champions have made it known to the whole world.

In purely sporting matters, the whites are waiting for an Inter Serie A champion after 11 years, although noticeably shaved compared to the one who lifted the title. His coach, Antonio Conte, who left when he saw that the quality of the team would decline, nor his scorer, Romelu Lukaku (30 goals last year), who has gone to

Chelsea's

blue

machine

in exchange for 115 million . On the bench, the replacement is Simone Inzaghi, captured with the poster of five good seasons in Lazio, but up front he has dropped a notch on paper with veteran Edin Dzeko (35 years, 13 goals last season in Roma ). Above, less than a week after the market closes, they have also been reinforced with Correa and Calhanoglu.

Other absences are those of Achraf (for 60 million to PSG) and Eriksen, protagonist of the most agonizing moment of the last European Championship, after suffering a cardiac arrest against Finland. The Argentine Lautaro Martínez, Perisic and the Euro Barella champion continue. In their double crossing last edition they fell in both games (3-2 in Valdebebas and 0-2 in San Siro, the day the world mourned Maradona).

If Inter were the lever of the meringues last year, Shakhtar became the nightmare.

He defeated him in both duels (2-3 and 2-0) and put his illustrious rival in a serious crisis after beating him in Kiev.

His identity has not changed: he continues to mix the Brazilian blood (13 players come from there) with the cold Ukrainian.

Compared to last year, they have added winger Pedrinho (18 million from Benfica), striker Traoré (10 from Ajax) and defender Marlon (12 from Sassuolo).

The Sheriff, meanwhile, has completed his feat entering a group with 16 European Cups (13 from Madrid and three from Inter).

Their dressing room, an effective combination of Brazilians, Peruvians, Greeks, Bosnians and Moldovans, eliminated Red Star and Dinamo Zagreb in the two rounds before.

Villarreal.

Rematch of the Europa League final

Villarreal, champions of the Europa League, started the draw from pot number one.

Framing in Group F, it seems that the Spanish team will play their qualifying place for the round of 16 with Manchester United and Atalanta, with very few options on paper for Young Boys.

Manchester United is one of the giants of European football, precisely the rival that Villarreal defeated in the final of the Europa League in an infinite penalty shoot-out (11-10).

Its cast of figures is enormous: De Gea, Varane, Maguire, Shaw, Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, Sancho, Matic, Cavani, Martial, Rashford and Green? Wood are some of their own names of the English giant, who has won three Cups of Europe.

Atalanta appears as the other great rival of Villarreal for the classification for the second round.

A peculiar coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, has raised his benefits.

They reached the quarterfinals in the 2020 edition, falling to PSG in the Lisbon bubble.

Full-backs Gosens and Maehle are good players, with Ilicic, Pasalic and De Roon in midfield escorting Zapata and Muriel up front.

The sale of the central Romero to Tottenham has weakened him.

The Young Boys, Swiss champions, eliminated a historical one like Ferencvaros to reach this group stage.

Seville.

Favorite against rivals of the middle class

Sevilla, fourth classified in the Spanish League last season and 11th in the UEFA list, started in the draw from pot two and was framed in Group G. It can be said that the Andalusian team, who does not know if will continue to count on Koundé, he was quite fortunate, since he dodged the most complicated rivals that could be placed in his way and is favorite to pass as first of the group.

French champion Lille gave the big surprise last season by beating PSG in their domestic competition after a long reign of the Parisian club.

It is a team with a strong physical deployment in which the Portuguese internationals José Fonte and Renato Sanches stand out as their proper names.

The playmaker Ikoné is another of his main assets.

Turkish Yilmaz's 16 goals were decisive.

Salzburg reached the group stage after eliminating Brondy.

First in the Austrian League, he has eight titles in a row in his competition, where his hegemony is absolute.

It is a team that stands out for its youth, with some veteran like the Austrian Junuzovic, 55 times international with his country.

This year he has been reinforced with the Argentine Capaldo, from Boca Juniors, being his most outstanding signing.

Wolfsburg, current leaders of the Bundesliga, closes the Sevilla group.

Coached by the Dutch Van Bommel, it is a team without big names, where some players like the Swiss forward Mehmedi or the Croatian midfielder Brekalo stand out.

• Group A

  : Manchester City - PSG - Leipzig - Bruges

  
  

• Group B

  : Atlético de Madrid - Liverpool - Porto - Milan

  
  

• Group C

  : Sporting de Portugal - Borussia Dortmund - Ajax - Besiktas

  
  

• Group D

  : Inter - Real Madrid - Shakhtar Donetsk - Sheriff

  
  

• Group E

  : Bayern Munich - Barcelona - Benfica - Dynamo Kiev

  
  

• Group F

  : Villarreal - Manchester United - Atalanta - Young Boys

  
  

• Group G

  : Lille - Seville - Salzburg - Wolfsburg

  
  

• Group H: Chelsea - Juventus - Zenit –Malmo

  
  

With information from Ramon Besa, Ladislao J. Moñino, Lorenzo Calonge and Rafael Pineda.

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