After last night’s Champions League play-off games where both Jordan Siebatcheu Pefok’s Young Boys and Brenden Aaronson’s RB Salzburg advanced to join the other 30 teams in the draw, 13 Americans learned who they would be facing in the group stages of Europe’s most prestigious club competition this afternoon.
There are two “groups of Yanks” where 3 of the 4 teams in those groups have American interests. Zack Steffen will hope to be between the posts when he goes up against Tyler Adam’s RB Leipzig and Owen Otasowie’s Club Brugge, while Wolfsburg’s John Brooks and Kobe Hernandez-Foster will face Tim Weah’s French champions Lille and Brenden Aaronson’s RB Salzburg.
Defending Champions League champs Chelsea and Christian Pulisic will go up against Weston McKennie and Juventus.
The tournament will get underway September 14/15. Each team will play the others in their groups, both home and away, and will conclude December 7/8, with the top two teams going through to the round of 32. The knockout games will start in mid-February and the final will be contested on May 28, 2022 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Here are all the groups and teams:
Group A: Manchester City (Zack Steffen), Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig (Tyler Adams), Club Brugge (Owen Otasowie)
Group B: Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Porto, AC Milan
Group C: Sporting CP, Borussia Dortmund (Giovanni Reyna), Ajax, Besiktas
Group D: Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sheriff Tiraspol
Group E: Bayern Munich (Chris Richards, Taylor Booth), Barcelona (Sergino Dest), Benfica, Dynamo Kyiv
Group F: Villarreal, Manchester United, Atalanta, Young Boys (Jordan Siebatcheu Pefok)
Group G: Lille (Tim Weah), Sevilla, Red Bull Salzburg (Brenden Aaronson), Wolfsburg (John Brooks, Kobe Hernandez Foster)
Group H: Chelsea (Christian Pulisic), Juventus (Weston McKennie), Zenit St Petersburg, Malmo
