Austria’s champions Salzburg will face AC Milan, Chelsea and Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League group stage.
Series champions Salzburg are up once morest two extremely well-known opponents in the Champions League. Last year’s round of 16, who are tackling the group stage for the fourth time in a row and were drawn from pot three in the draw in Istanbul on Thursday, will meet Italy’s champions AC in Pool E from September MilanChelsea and Dinamo Zagreb. The first match will be on September 6th or 7th, the exact schedule was not initially set.
AC Milan, drawn from pot one, have already won the championship cup and the Champions League seven times, but their most recent triumph dates back to 2007. Two-time champions Chelsea, drawn from pot two, last struck in 2021. Dinamo Zagreb is taking part in the group stage for the eighth time, with Robert Ljubicic and Emir Dilaver also having two Austrians in the Croatian record champions’ squad.
Dinamo is also an old friend of the Salzburgers. Since 2009/10, the “Bulls” have played six duels with Croatia’s record champions, the record is 3-2-1. The only defeat was of course the most bitter: in 2016/17 in the CL play-off following a 1-1 draw in the first leg, a 1-2 home draw following extra time meant the end.
The draw at a glance
Group A: ajax AmsterdamFC Liverpool, SSC Napoli, Glasgow Rangers
Group B: FC Porto, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Club Brugge
Group C: Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona, Inter MilanVictoria Pilsen
Group D: Eintracht Frankfurt, Tottenham Hotspur, Sporting Lisbon, Olympique Marseille
Group E: AC Milan, FC Chelsea, FC SalzburgDinamo Zagreb.
Group F: Real Madrid, RB Leipzig, Shaktar Donetsk, Celtic Glasgow
Group G: Manchester City, FC Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund, FC Kopenhagen
Group H: Paris SG, Juventus Turin, Benfica Lissabon, Maccabi Haifa
(red)
