Champions League draw LIVE! Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa learn fixtures in new format

Champions League draw LIVE! Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City and Aston Villa learn fixtures in new format

 

The inaugural new 36-team league format launches with today’s draw

 

Champions League draw LIVE

 

The revamped Champions League format launches today with the draw for the new league stage, which replaces the group stage. Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and – back after 41 years – Aston Villa are the English teams in the mix as 36 clubs learn who they will face all the way until the end of January.

 

It’s quite a departure from the old format, with each club playing eight different opponents in one-off games, four of which will be home and four away, as they look to climb up the league stable and secure a top-eight finish and earn a seeding for the knockout stage and avoid a two-legged play-off round in the process.

 

The draw will be completed by a computer, as some feared a by-hand selection process could have taken as long as four hours to complete, but that is no promise of a quick a simple show tonight. Giorgio Marchetti and Pedro Pinto will grace us with their presence in Monaco from 5pm UK time, so follow along with us below!

 

Champions League draw latest updates

 

Draw time: 5pm BST, Monaco

 

How to watch: TNT Sport and UEFA

 

New 36-team format explained

 

Confirmed pots for league draw

 

Arsenal dream and nightmare opponents

 

Live updates

 

3 minutes ago

 

Oh, it’s business time. Giorgio Marchetti is on stage.

 

4 minutes ago

 

Zlatan says: “The best club competition in the world, just got better!”

 

“I’ve never said this before, but you don’t need me. Let the tournament speak for itself.”

 

6 minutes ago

 

Ok, now a star-studded video to explain the new format.

 

Aleksander Ceferin, Gianluigi Buffon, Rodri, Ruben Dias, Ousmane Dembele, Luis Figo, Kate Abdo, Robbie Keane and, of course, Zlatan Ibrahimovic all involved.

 

Ceferin makes a joke about Ibra never winning the Champions League. Didn’t look like it went down terribly well.

 

“The Champions League and goals is like [tomato] ketchup, when you open they come,” says Ronaldo.

 

 

10 minutes ago

 

And now an award for Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the Champions League’s all-time top scorer.

 

He wins the award being the record all-time leading scorer.

 

“If we think about the Champions League, we think about Ronaldo. If we think about football, we think about Ronaldo,” says Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin.

 

Ceferin then says he hopes we’ll see Ronaldo playing in the Champions League soon, to which Ronaldo says: “I play in the Asian Champions League, it’s the Champions League too!”

 

19 minutes ago

 

Pedro Pinto promises the new “league phase” will bring “the best of the best for clubs, players and fans.”

 

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is on stage to award Gianluigi Buffon with the Uefa President Award.

 

Yeah, me too.

 

22 minutes ago

 

Oh, we’ve got a new Champions League theme!

 

Performed by Welsh opera singer Katherine Jenkins, this is quite something.

 

25 minutes ago

 

Right, it’s almost Giorgio Marchetti and Pedro Pinto O’Clock.

 

28 minutes ago

 

Aston Villa’s return after four decades

 

A word for Aston Villa before the draw, back at Europe’s top table for the first time in 41 years.

 

They’ve won this competition before, of course, in its former guise as the European Cup, which is one more than Arsenal.

 

It was a stunning achievement from manager Unai Emery last season, who beat champions Man City and did the double over former club the Gunners.

 

Emery knows a thing or two about winning in Europe, having lifted the Europa League a remarkable four times.

 

He reached the Champions League semi-finals with Villarreal three seasons ago, but otherwise has struggled to make too much of an impact on the competition. And don’t mention the word La

 

Who has qualifed?

 

Not long to go now until the draw. Here are the 36 teams in the mix.

 

England: Man City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa

 

Spain: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Atletico Madrid

 

Germany: Leverkusen, Stuttgart, Bayern, Leipzig, Dortmund

 

Italy: Inter Milan, AC Milan, Bologna, Juventus, Atalanta

 

France: Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, Brest

 

Netherlands: PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord

 

Portugal: Sporting, Benfica

 

Belgium: Club Brugge

 

Scotland: Celtic

 

Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk

 

Austria: Sturm Graz

 

Qualifiers: Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb, Slovan Bratislava, Red Star Belgrade, Sparta Prague, Lille, Red Bull Salzburg