Written by Sinead Farrell and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.

LIVERPOOL FACE A mouthwatering tie against defending champions Real Madrid following the draw for the revamped Champions League which took place in Monaco today.

City, who were the first team to be drawn from Pot 1, were pitted against Inter Milan (h), PSG (a), Club Brugge (h), Juventus (a), Feyenoord (h), Sporting CP (a), Sparta Prague (h) and Slovan Bratislava (a).

Liverpool, also a Pot 1 team, will take on Real Madrid at Anfield, and will also be facing RB Leipzig (a), Bayer Leverkusen (h), AC Milan (a), Lille (h), PSV (a), Bologna (h), and Girona (a).

Arsenal, drawn from Pot 2, face PSG (h,) Inter Milan (a), Shakhtar Donestsk (h), Atalanta (a), GNK Dinamo (h), Sporting CP (a), Monaco (h) and Girona (a).

Celtic emerged from Pot 3 and will begin their league phase against RB Leipzig at home. Borussia Dortmund is up next away followed by Club Brugge (h), Atalanta (a), Young Boys (h), GNK Dinamo (a), Solvan Bratislava (h) and Aston Villa (a).

Aston Villa discovered their opponents from Pot 4, beginning with a home tie against Bayern Munich. They then travel to play RB Leipzig before taking on Juventus (h), Club Brugge (a), Celtic (h), Young Boys (a), Bologna (h) and finally Monaco (a).

Fixture details will be announced on Saturday.

The competition will undergo a revamp this year, with a new league phase replacing the old group stage format which featured eight pools of four teams. The new league phase will contain 36 teams separated into four seeding points, playing eight games — four at home and four away.

The top eight teams will progress automatically to the last 16. The teams who finish between ninth and 24th will then compete in a new knockout phase play-off round to decide the final eight teams to advance to the last 16.

Teams who finish 25th and lower will be eliminated.