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Real Madrid will come face-to-face with some familiar rivals in the 2024-25 Champions League after their draw for the league phase was concluded.
Perhaps the most eye-catching draw was a reunion with Borussia Dortmund, whom they beat in the final last season to lift their 15th Champions League title. Daniel Carvajal and Vinicius Junior were the scorers that night in London, as Los Blancos returned to the pinnacle of Europe again.
In the new format, every side will play eight other teams, four at home, and four away. Apart from Dortmund, Madrid will also welcome AC Milan, Red Bull Salzburg, and Stuttgart to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Away from home, too, Carlo Ancelotti's champions have some tricky fixtures, with Liverpool, Atalanta, Lille, and Brest repping their four games on the road.
Real Madrid and Liverpool have faced each other quite frequently in recent times, including in two finals, 2018 and 2022, while facing Atalanta for the first time in 2021. Their clash with Milan, however, would mark the first since 2010.
They would be facing Lille, Brest, Stuttgart and Salzburg for the first time in their history.
The defending champions appear to have a tricky road ahead to retain their crown and it will be interesting to see how far they could go in the competition. Their campaign begins against Dortmund next month, with the dates likely to be confirmed on August 31.
New Champions League format threatens repeated fixtures
As if the older Champions League format hadn't served up increasingly repeated fixtures, the new one threatens it more so. With each team facing more games in the first round, the chances of coming up against familar rivals goes up manifold.
For instance, the draw has pitted Real Madrid against Liverpool again, marking their fifth meeting since the 2018 final. If both sides qualify for the Champions League next year, they are likely to face each other again.
While it's always exciting to see the big guns of Europe go head-to-head in the biggest stage of them all, repeating it over and over again makes it lose its novelty and the thrill surrounding it.
