UEFA Champions League 2022-23 draw: Real Madrid in Group F; Bayern, Barcelona in Group C

AC Milan are drawn in Group E and Manchester City are in Group G for the UEFA Champions League 2022-23.

3 minBy Rahul Venkat
Real Madrid won the 2021-22 UCL.
(Getty Images)

Defending champions Real Madrid will play in Group F with RB Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic according to the UEFA Champions League 2022-23 draw held in Istanbul, Turkey on Thursday.

Real Madrid added a record-extending 14th UCL trophy to their cabinet last season after beating Liverpool in the final.

Liverpool, meanwhile, find themselves in Group A with Dutch champions Ajax, Italian side Napoli and Scottish team Rangers, who have made it to the group stages for the first time since 2010.

Group C seems to be the toughest as German champions Bayern Munich, Spanish giants FC Barcelona and Italian heavyweights Inter were drawn together, alongside Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic.

Seven-time winners AC Milan, who have won the trophy the second-most number of times in history, are in Group E with two-time champions Chelsea, RB Salzburg of Austria and Croatian team Dinamo Zagreb.

Premier League champions and 2020-21 finalists Manchester City headline Group G, where they will face Sevilla, Dortmund and FC Copenhagen.

In the group stages, which begin on September 6, each team in a group will play the other twice, home and away, in a round-robin format. The top-two in each group will then progress to the round of 16.

The tournament then becomes a knockout format as each round takes place over two legs.

Once the group stages are done, there will be a draw for the round of 16, which will take place on November 7 and the UCL draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals will be held on March 17, 2023.

The UCL 2022-23 final will take place on June 10, 2023 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.

UEFA Champions League 2022-23 groups

Group A: AFC Ajax, Liverpool, Napoli, Rangers

Group B: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Club Brugge

Group C: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter, Viktoria Plzen

Group D: Eintracht Frankfurt, Tottenham Hotspur, Sporting CP, Marseille

Group E: AC Milan, Chelsea, RB Salzburg, Dinamo Zagreb

Group F: Real Madrid, RB Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk, Celtic

Group G: Manchester City, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund, FC Copenhagen

Group H: PSG, Juventus, Benfica, Maccabi Haifa

Schedule for UEFA Champions League 2022-23

Group stages

Matchday 1: September 6 and 7, 2022

Matchday 2: September 13 and 14, 2022

Matchday 3: October 4 and 5, 2022

Matchday 4: October 11 and 12, 2022

Matchday 5: October 25 and 26, 2022

Matchday 6: November 1 and 2, 2022

UCL round of 16

First leg: February 14 - February 22, 2023

Second leg: March 7 - March 15, 2023

UCL quarter-finals

First leg: April 11 and 12, 2023

Second leg: April 18 and 19, 2023

UCL semi-finals

First leg: May 9 and 10, 2023

Second leg: May 16 and 17, 2023

UCL final

June 10, 2023