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The UEFA Champions League and its draw
The UEFA Champions League draw will take place today (Thursday), August 31 at 5pm in Monaco. Holders Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle and Celtic will all feature in the draw.
The Champions League group-stage draw will see Man City, Arsenal, Man Utd, Newcastle and Celtic discover their opponents for the opening round of the 2023/24 edition.
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Rangers on Wednesday lost out of the opportunity to qualify in the draws. The Gers were left battered and bruised by PSV to end their Champions League dreams. Michael Beale’s side suffered a heavy 5-1 loss against PSV on the night.
The 2023/24 Champions League group stage draw will take place at 5pm (BST) on Thursday August 31 in Monaco.
Twenty-six teams qualified automatically for the Champions League group stage via their 2022/23 league position, while further six teams booked their places via the play-offs.
Seville had qualified automatically following their Europa League victory.
Below are the teams with automatic qualifications:
England: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle United
Spain: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Sevilla
Italy: Inter Milan, Lazio, AC Milan and Napoli
Germany: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RB Leipzig and Union Berlin
France: Paris Saint-Germain, Lens
Portugal: Porto and Benfica
Netherlands: Feyenoord
Austria: Red Bull Salzburg
Scotland: Celtic
Serbia: Red Star Belgrade
Ukraine: Shakhtar Donetsk
On Tuesday, three teams had emerged qualified for the draw from the playoffs, namely:
Braga (Portugal) beat Panathinaikos 3 -1 on aggregate.
Young Boys (Switzerland) defeated Maccabi Haifa 3-1 on aggregate.
Galatasaray (Turkey) ended Molde’s qualification chances with a 5-3 aggregate win.
On Wednesday, further three teams completed the qualification playoffs.
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) defeated Rangers (Agg: 7-3)
Antwerp (Belgium) defeated AEK (Agg: 3-1)
Copenhagen (Denmark) defeated Rakow (Agg: 2-1)
The six teams from the playoffs will therefore bring the draw to a total of 32 teams.