The draw for the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League league phase concluded on Thursday evening, setting the stage for a 36-team competition that begins on September 8. The individual match schedule will not be announced until this weekend, but the draw has already produced major fixtures: PSG at Manchester City, Real Madrid at Arsenal, Barcelona against PSG, Manchester City at Barcelona and Arsenal against Bayern Munich. There are no repeat ties from last season's quarterfinals, semifinals or final. Real Madrid will enter the season with José Mourinho back in charge. The Portuguese manager will have an emotional reunion with Inter Milan, the club he led to Champions League glory at the Bernabéu in 2010. Real also travel to Arsenal, giving Vinícius Júnior an early opportunity to see the Premier League champions he could have joined this summer. Mourinho also returns to Roma, while Shakhtar Donetsk will play a match against Real at Stamford Bridge. PSV Eindhoven, RB Leipzig, LASK and AEK Athens are also on Madrid's fixture list. Barcelona, managed by Hansi Flick, want to turn two successive LaLiga titles into European success; they have not won the UEFA Champions League since 2015. Their draw is demanding, with PSG and Manchester City from Pot 1. The City match is notable because Rodri joined Barcelona less than a month earlier; the report describes him as the World Cup's best player and says he has made Barcelona stronger while weakening City. Enzo Maresca therefore faces a question over how to configure his midfield. Barcelona will also play Aston Villa, Galatasaray, Como and Sabah. Several English clubs have difficult schedules. Manchester United, managed by Michael Carrick, will play Bayern Munich and travel to the Metropolitano to face Atlético Madrid. United will also visit Villarreal and Como, while hosting Sabah. Aston Villa, after a poor Premier League start and the summer losses of Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa and Youri Tielemans, will face PSG, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Club Brugge. Unai Emery's side will also travel to Galatasaray and play Viking. Atlético Madrid enter the competition with their Metropolitano Stadium set to host the final. Diego Simeone's side have a route viewed as manageable despite fixtures against Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester United. They will also face PSV, Fenerbahce, Viking and Stuttgart. Their most awkward test may be a trip to Norway to face Bodø/Glimt, who won 2-1 at the Metropolitano on the final day of last season's league phase. New Liverpool coach Andoni Iraola has received a gentler draw than some leading clubs. Liverpool avoided Pot 1 opponents PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but will play Inter Milan and Atlético Madrid. The six-time UEFA Champions League winners will also face Club Brugge, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Lens and LASK. The trip to Austria to play LASK merits attention after the club overturned a four-goal deficit against Celtic to reach the league phase. The expanded format gives first-time European entrants major occasions. Sabah, formed in 2017, will play four former European champions in their first UEFA Champions League season. Azerbaijan's title holders will host Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund in Baku because their Masazir ground does not meet UEFA standards, before travelling to Arsenal and Manchester United. Como, managed by Cesc Fàbregas, will host PSG and Manchester United and travel to Barcelona. Norway's Viking make their first appearance since the introduction of a group-stage or league-phase system and will host Bayern Munich. Villarreal, led by Iñigo Pérez in his first season at this level, are trying to recover from a campaign in which they collected one point from eight games and finished 35th out of 36 teams. Villarreal will play PSG, Liverpool, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Fenerbahce, Sabah and Slavia Prague. Midweek evening matches return from September 8 to a schedule followed closely across East Africa and the diaspora. Supporters in Soomaaliya who follow Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona will have difficult early fixtures to watch, giving the opening nights of the competition plenty to anticipate.