Champions League draw: Arsenal face Real Madrid, Rodri to face Manchester City in Barcelona colours

Champions League draw: Arsenal face Real Madrid, Rodri to face Manchester City in Barcelona colours The Champions League is into the fourth season in its league-phase format and the draw for this year has thrown up quite a few marquee clashes.

Key points

• Premier League champions Arsenal face Real Madrid (home), Bayern Munich (away), Borussia Dortmund (home), Real Betis (away), Lille (home), Napoli (away), Sabah (home), Slavia Prague (away).
• When Liverpool beat Tottenham. © IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd, madrid's Estadio Metropolitano last hosted the Champions League final in 2019.
• They will face Bayern Munich (home), Atletico Madrid (away), Roma (home), Sporting Club (away), Leipzig (home), Villarreal (away), Sabah (home), Como (away).
• Real Madrid host Inter and travel to Arsenal. ⁠They will ⁠additionally face PSV Eindhoven, Roma, RB Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk, LASK and ⁠AEK ‌Athens.
• This will be the third season in which the Champions League will be played in the league-phase format, having been introduced in 2024/25.

Soccer Football – UEFA Champions League – League Phase Draw – Grimaldi Forum, Monaco – August 27, 2026 UEFA Deputy Secretary General Giorgio Marchetti, former footballers Thierry Henry and David Villa and presenters Pedro Pinto and Reshmin Chowdhury look on as the screen demonstrates the fixtures of pot 4 ahead of the league phase REUTERS/Manon Cruz.

While the latter will have a reunion with their former midfielder Rodri when they face the Catalan giants, defending champions Paris St Germain will face Barcelona and Manchester City. Fifteen-time champions Real Madrid, meanwhile, face Arsenal at Thursday's Champions League draw.

Manchester United, who return to the tournament that they have won thrice after an absence of three seasons, will have a repeat of the 1999 Champions League final when they Bayern Munich at home. They will face Bayern Munich (home), Atletico Madrid (away), Roma (home), Sporting Club (away), Leipzig (home), Villarreal (away), Sabah (home), Como (away).

Premier League champions Arsenal face Real Madrid (home), Bayern Munich (away), Borussia Dortmund (home), Real Betis (away), Lille (home), Napoli (away), Sabah (home), Slavia Prague (away). Manchester City, in their first season in the Champions League in a decade without Pep Guardiola at the helm, play PSG (home), Barcelona (away), Sporting Club (home), Porto (away), Napoli (home), Leipzig (away), AEK Athens (home), Lens (away).

In practice, the session with Inter will see new Real manager ‌Jose Mourinho face one of his former clubs. Mourinho, who returned ‌for a second spell in charge of Real in June, guided Inter to the Champions League title in 2010 before ⁠leaving for the Santiago Bernabeu.

This season's Champions League final will be played at Estadio Metropolitano – home of Atletico Madrid. The 70, 000-capacity stadium was been awarded the men's showpiece in 2025 after Milan's San Siro was stripped of the honour.

UEFA decided to reopen bidding for the event against the backdrop of worries regarding refurbishment aims at the San Siro – and the match will now take place in the Spanish capital. When Liverpool beat Tottenham. © IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd, madrid's Estadio Metropolitano last hosted the Champions League final in 2019.

For now, champions League draw: Arsenal face Real Madrid, Rodri to face Manchester City remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.