Major change to UCL knockout stages draw with Wimbledon-style system

THE new-look Champions League begins with Liverpool meeting AC Milan in the San Siro and Aston Villa at Switzerland’s Young Boys.

SunSport explains how it now works:

Uefa agreed to expand the Champions League from 32 teams to 36 and scrap the long-standing group stage.

Instead, all teams will play eight matches in the initial stage as part of a single 36-team league competition.

Unlike in previous seasons, where the group games were completed before Christmas, the league stage will now run through to the end of January.

This week’s games will be split over three nights before the next six match days are played on just Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with two matches on each day starting at 5.45pm and the rest at 8pm.

But the final set of 18 matches will be played simultaneously with an 8pm kick-off on January 29.

After eight matches, the top eight sides in the table will automatically go through to the last 16.

The teams ranked from ninth to 24th will play off over two legs to join them. The bottom eight clubs are out of Europe and teams no longer drop into the Europa League.

Uefa had previously drawn the knock-out games at each stage but now a Wimbledon-style seeded draw will be conducted after the league stage meaning the top two sides in the initial table cannot meet until the final.

Prem clubs can meet each other at any point in the knock-out stage of the competition.

Champions League newcomers Aston Villa get their campaign underway against Young Boys on Tuesday.

While Manchester City meet Inter Milan on Wednesday and Arsenal face a trip to Atalanta on Thursday.