The UEFA Champions League group stage draw for the 2024/25 season took place earlier today. The format of the competition has been revamped with the number of teams increasing from 32 to 36 and all teams being placed in one big group.
Each team was drawn eight opponents to face in the group stage of the completion, four home and four away. Here are Barcelona’s opponents for the Champions League group stage: Bayern Munich, Atalanta, Young Boys and Brest at home and Borussia Dortmund, Benfica, Red Star and Monaco away.
The top 8 teams from the group of 36 would move directly to the next round while the teams that finish 9th-24th in the group will have to pay a knock-out tie. Ideally, Barcelona will be aiming to finish in the top eight.
Ex-Barcelona player and current Football coordinator Bojan Krkic and vice-president Rafa Yuste were the club’s two representatives at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco for the draw. As per SPORT, here is how Krkic reacted prior to the draw:
“Very eager to see how the draw would turn out. We’ll have to adapt to it.”
Post knowing who the opponents for Barcelona in the group stage are going to be, Krkic sent out a bold message to the other clubs:
“Strong, just like all the teams in the Champions League are, as they have earned their place by having a great season. Our opponents won’t be happy about facing us.”
Krkic then went on to outline the sporting team’s objective for the league phase. He mentioned that the club will try and get as many points as possible:
“We always aim for the highest, especially since we accept that we are a very good team and are growing.”
Bayern are easily Barcelona’s biggest challenge in the league phase but Hansi Flick will know better than to underestimate any opponent on that list. Borussia Dortmund were Champions League finalists last time around.
Atalanta are the defending Europa League winners. Benfica is a club that knocked us out a few seasons ago in the Champions League group stage. Thus, Flick will know that his team will have to be at their best.
Ultimately, the aim is to finish in the top eight of the group to ensure direct qualification. Let’s see if Barcelona can manage to do that in their first season in this revamped structure of the Uefa Champions League.
