Leicester City to play Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen in Champions League

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Leicester City are to play Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen in the Group Stage of this season's Champions League.

It is the first time ever that Leicester City have apepared in Europe's premier club football competition and the side's first appearance in European tournament since they were defeated 3-1 on aggregate by Red Star Belgrade in the first round of the Uefa Cup in 2000/01.

Manchester City, meanwhile, will take part in a "Battle of Britain" after being drawn in the same group as Scottish champions Celtic.
City will also be playing Barcelona, who were once managed by City's new manager Pep Guardiola. Borussia Monchengladbach is the other team in the group.

North London side Arsenal are in the same group as Paris St-Germain, Basel and Ludogorets Razgrad.

Arsenal's fellow North Londoners Tottenham Hotspur have been drawn with CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco.

The final will take place on Saturday 3rd June 2017.

Champions League: Manchester City and Celtic to meet Barcelona


BBC News
25th August 2016


Leicester City are making their Champions League debut


Manchester City will meet Scottish champions Celtic and manager Pep Guardiola's former club Barcelona in the Champions League group stage.

German side Borussia Monchengladbach will be the other team in Group C.

Premier League champions Leicester City will play Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen in their debut campaign.

Arsenal have been drawn alongside Paris St-Germain, Basel and Ludogorets, with Tottenham facing Monaco, CSKA Moscow and Bayer Leverkusen.

Spanish side Real Madrid beat neighbours Atletico on penalties in last season's final, becoming European champions for a record 11th time.

Zinedine Zidane's side meet German outfit Borussia Dortmund, Portugal's Sporting Lisbon and Legia Warsaw of Poland.

Guardiola makes another Barca return


Barcelona beat Manchester City in the Champions League last 16 in both 2014 and 2015


Guardiola, who replaced Manuel Pellegrini at the end of last season, is Barcelona's most successful boss, leading the Spanish club to 14 major trophies between 2008 and 2012.

He helped the Catalans, who are five-time European champions, win the Champions League in 2009 and 2011.

After leaving the Nou Camp, the former Spain midfielder took charge of German side Bayern Munich and lost to his former side in the 2014-15 Champions League semi-finals.

City, who lost to champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals last season, qualified for the group stage thanks to a 6-0 aggregate win over Romania's Steaua Bucharest.

As well as facing Barcelona for a third time in four seasons, City also return to Monchengladbach, whom they beat home and away in last season's group stage.

"It is not a nightmare draw because we are in a wonderful competition - but it is a very tough group," City director of football Txiki Begiristain said.

"Pep knows the group very well - obviously Barcelona but also Borussia Monchengladbach from his time in Germany."


Guardiola's Bayern side were beaten 3-0 on his first return to the Nou Camp as an opposing manager

Debutants Leicester find out fate


Leicester City produced one of the great sporting shocks to win last season's Premier League title and qualify for the Champions League for the first time.

The Foxes' last involvement in European football saw them knocked out of the Uefa Cup in the first round by Red Star Belgrade in 2000.

Claudio Ranieri's side could have been drawn in a group with last season's beaten finalists Atletico Madrid, Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven and Turkish league winners Besiktas.

Although they face Portuguese champions Porto, who have reached the group stage for a sixth successive season, Belgian title winners Club Brugge and Danish champions FC Copenhagen have shown little Champions League pedigree in recent years.

Brugge are competing in the group stage for the first time since 2005-06, while Copenhagen are 81st in Uefa's club rankings.

"With the history of all the clubs we could have been drawn against, it was always going to be an interesting draw," said Foxes director of football Jon Rudkin.

"These are three very established European football clubs and strong teams."

Russian side Rostov - the only other Champions League debutants this season - face Atletico and German champions Bayern Munich.

North London well represented

Tottenham mark their return to European football's top competition for the first time in six seasons, while Arsenal will aim to qualify for the knockout stages for a 13th successive year.

Spurs, who reached the quarter-finals in 2010-11 with wins over both Milan clubs, have avoided the European heavyweights despite being drawn in pot three.

With White Hart Lane's capacity reduced as work begins on a new stadium, Tottenham will play their Champions League games at Wembley this season.

Their toughest test is likely to come against Russian champions CSKA Moscow, the 2005 Uefa Cup winners.

"We know very well that Russia is always difficult and CSKA are sure to have a very good team," said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Arsenal, who reached the last 16 last season, and PSG will be favourites to progress from Group A.

French champions PSG knocked Chelsea out in the last 16 before losing to Manchester City, but have not met Arsenal since the 1993-94 Cup Winners' Cup semi-final.

Full group stage draw

Group A

Paris St-Germain (France)
Arsenal (England)
Basel (Switzerland)
Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria)

Group B

Benfica (Portugal)
Napoli (Italy)
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
Besiktas (Turkey)

Group C

Barcelona (Spain)
Manchester City (England)
Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany)
Celtic (Scotland)


Group D

Bayern Munich (Germany)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Rostov (Russia)


Group E

CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Tottenham Hotspur (England)
Monaco (France)

Group F

Real Madrid (Spain)
Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Legia Warsaw (Poland)


Group G

Leicester City (England)
Porto (Portugal)
Club Brugge (Belgium)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark)


Group H

Juventus (Italy)
Sevilla (Spain)
Lyon (France)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)

Key dates

13-14 September - First round of group matches
6-7 December - Final round of group matches
14-15/21-22 February - Round of 16, first leg
7-8/14-15 March - Round of 16, second leg
11-12 April - Quarter-finals, first leg
18-19 April - Quarter-finals, second leg
2-3 May - Semi-finals, first leg
9-10 May - Semi-finals, second leg
3 June - Final (Cardiff)



Champions League: Manchester City and Celtic to meet Barcelona - BBC Sport
 
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Blackleaf

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Oct 9, 2004
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Tuesday and Wednesday's opening Champions League matches....

English champions Leicester City, playing in Europe's premier club football tournament for the first time ever (it's still hard to believe they're in it), comfortably defeated Belgian champions Club Brugge last night in their first-ever Champions League match to earn their first win in European football since the 1961-62 season.

Can they make it all the way through to the final and be crowned European champions in Cardiff on 3rd June 2017?

Champions League


Group G

Club Brugge 0-3 Leicester City


Marc Albrighton (No11) scores Leicester City's first-ever Champions League goal last night after just five minutes


Leicester City celebrated the first Champions League match in their history by cruising to victory against Club Brugge in Belgium.

Marc Albrighton scored with the Foxes' first shot after a defensive error from right-back Luis Hernandez's long throw.

Riyad Mahrez curled in a masterful free-kick for 2-0 before half-time.


Riyad Mahrez (second from right) scored twice as the English champions comfortably defeated the Belgian champions


Mahrez smashed in a penalty after Jamie Vardy was brought down by the keeper, before Brugge's Jose Izquierdo hit the post, adding to his bad miss at 0-0.

There will be more difficult games than this, but the Premier League champions displayed a maturity and composure that suggests potential to achieve more success at the elite level of European club football.

This was only Leicester's ninth European match, and their first win since a victory over Glenavon of Northern Ireland in the preliminary round of the 1961-62 Cup Winners' Cup, when Gordon Banks - who won the World Cup with England in 1966 - was in goal.

Leicester could have won by more on Wednesday.

Danny Drinkwater went close with a dipping volley struck on the turn with the ball almost at ground level from outside the box, while Robert Huth might have added a fourth from another of Hernandez's several long throws.

Debutant and club record signing Islam Slimani should have made more of a terrible Benoit Poulain back pass, and was booked for shoving Bjorn Engels in the back, with the Belgium defender forced off with what looked like a dislocated shoulder.

In the other match in Group G, Portuguese club FC Porto drew 1-1 at home to FC Copenhagen of Denmark.


Porto drew 1-1 with FC Copenhagen in the other match in Group G

Last night's other results:

Group C



Manchester City 4-0
Borussia Mönchengladbach (above)

Group E



Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Monaco (above)
Bayer Leverkusen 2-2 CSKA Moscow

Group F



Legia Warsaw 0-6 Borussia Dortmund (above)
Real Madrid 2-1 Sporting Lisbon


Group H



Juventus 0-0 Sevilla
Lyon 3-0 Dinamo Zagreb (above)


Tuesday night's results:

Group A



Basel 1-1 Ludogorets Razgrad
Paris Saint-Germain 1-1 Arsenal (above)

Group B



Benfica 1-1 Besiktas
Dynamo Kiev 1-2 Napoli (above)

Group C



Barcelona 7-0 Celtic (above)

Group D



Bayern Munich 5-0 FC Rostov (above)
PSV Eindhoven 0-1 Atletico Madrid