The draw for the “new look” Champions League was made on Thursday in Monaco. And the computer activated by Cristiano Ronaldo was not very lenient with the French clubs involved, which will be four for the first time in history. Like PSG, which has inherited a tough schedule including Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Atlético Madrid and Arsenal, Lille and Brest will be up against some of the European heavyweights. One in particular: Real Madrid.
Defending champions, the Merengues have indeed inherited Lille and Brest among their eight opponents in the league phase. For Kylian Mbappé, who left Paris in the off-season, this new C1 formula will therefore be an opportunity to already return to France, since the two French clubs will have the advantage of hosting the Maison Blanche: for LOSC, it will be in its Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve d’Ascq; and for SB29, it will be at the Roudourou in Guingamp.
Kylian Mbappé will face his little brother Ethan!
The Dogues will have a lot to do to reach the last 16 of the competition. In addition to Real Madrid, they will face Liverpool, Atlético Madrid, Sporting Portugal and Bologna away, as well as Juventus, Feyenoord Rotterdam and Sturm Graz at home. The Bretons, for their part, will challenge FC Barcelona, Shakhtar Donetsk, Salzburg and Sparta Prague away, as well as Bayer Leverkusen, PSV Eindhoven and Sturm Graz at “home”.
UEFA has now given itself two days to establish the schedule for this first phase of the Champions League. There is no doubt that Kylian Mbappé will mark in his diary the reunion with his little brother Ethan, who also left the capital club this summer, to settle in Lille. But while “Kyky” was looking after his younger brother when they were teammates last season at PSG, the new Madrid number 9 will not give him any gifts this time!
-
Lille’s opponents
Lille-Real Madrid
Liverpool-Lille
Lille-Juventus
Atletico Madrid-Lille
Lille-Feyenoord Rotterdam
Sporting Portugal-Lille
Lille-Sturm Graz
Bologna-Lille
-
Brest’s opponents
Brest-Real Madrid
Barcelona-Brest
Brest-Bayer Leverkusen
Shakhtar Donetsk-Brest
Brest-PSV Eindhoven
Salzburg-Brest
Brest-Sturm Graz
Sparta Prague-Brest