UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW: GROUP OF DEATH AS BACELONA, INTER-MILLAN, BAYERN MUNICH DRAWN TOGETHER

Many of us have been waiting for this moment to see the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE kick off, but it all begins this evening as the Group stage draw is out.

Barca and Bayern find themselves in one of the tougher groups, with Italian giants Inter also drawn into Group C.

Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Paris Saint-Germain also have a fascinating draw as they’ve been paired with Juventus, Benfica and minnows Maccabi Haifa.

The draw is taking place in Istanbul, Turkey, this August 25, as the Champions League final is scheduled to be held in the country.

This UEFA event should get up and running at 19:00 TRT, the local time in Istanbul, which is 18:00 CEST in western Europe, 17:00 BST in the United Kingdom or 12:00 ET on the east coast of the USA.

Awards will be given out too this Thursday evening, with Karim Benzema and Real Madrid expected to collect a lot of them after their performances last season, while the Champions League group stage draw will then split the 32 teams across eight groups.

All the updates from Istanbul follow along below, with the most recent coming nearest the top.

Champions League Group Stage Draw, Live Text Updates

FULL DRAW

GROUP A

Ajax

Liverpool

Napoli

Rangers

GROUP B

Porto

Atletico Madrid

Bayer Leverkusen

Club Brugge

GROUP C

Bayern Munich

Barcelona

Inter

Victoria Plzen

GROUP D

Eintracht Frankfurt

Tottenham

Sporting CP

Marseille

GROUP E

AC Milan

Chelsea

RB Salzburg

Dinamo Zagreb

GROUP F

Real Madrid

RB Leipzig

Shakhtar Donetsk

Celtic

GROUP G

Man City

Sevilla

Dortmund

FC Copenhagen

GROUP H

PSG

Juventus

Benfica

Maccabi Haifa

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