Open Champions League Group Stage Draw Thread

The first international break is usually a sign that things are about to get relatively busy in short order. That’s because, for those lucky to be involved in Europe’s premier club competition, the Champions League group stage is about to get underway and all the craziness that comes with it will soon consume our minds.

But before they actually start playing group stage games, the 32 clubs that are taking part in this season’s Champions League need to find out who they’re playing.

That’s where this thread comes into play.

Soon, Juventus and the 31 other clubs in attendance will find out their three group stage opponents. Those of us around these parts really only care about who that one club that’s one seven straight Serie A titles will be playing in the group stage knowing full well that this season has brought increasing European aspirations.

So, just in case you need a reminder, here’s a breakdown of the four pots.

Pot one: Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Lokomotiv Moscow

Pot two: Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli, Tottenham, Roma

Pot three: Liverpool, Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, Ajax, CSKA Moscow, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia

Pot four: Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Internazionale, Hoffenheim, Red Star Belgrade, AEK Athens

As you can probably guess, no two teams from the same country can be in the same group, so that means that not all of the 24 teams in the bottom three pots are potential Juventus opponents. Juventus could very well end up against Spanish opposition in the group stage. They could see last season’s Round of 16 opposition, Tottenham, or historical European rivals like Manchester United or Liverpool again.

It’s all out there in the open.

Let us find out who Juventus will be playing come the start of the group stage next month. And maybe, just maybe, it will result in a relatively no-stress stretch of European games.

(Who am I kidding, right? This is still Juventus we’re talking about here.)

DRAW INFO

When: Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018

Where: Nyon, Switzerland

Time: 6 p.m. local time in Nyon and across Europe; 5 p.m. in the United Kingdom; 12 p.m. noon on the East Coast; 9 a.m. on the West Coast

HOW TO WATCH

Television: Univision Deportes (United States); BT Sport 2 (United Kingdom); Eurosport Italy (Italy)

Online/mobile: UEFA.com (worldwide); B/R Live (United States); DAZN (Canada); BT Sport Live (United Kingdom)

Other live viewing options can be found here, and as always, you can also follow along with us live and all the stupid things we say on Twitter. If you haven’t already, join the community on Black & White & Read All Over, and join in the discussion below.

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