Winners & losers of UCL draw: Messi's another tough year; Pep & Klopp get relief

The Champions League group stage draw has taken place with Premier League clubs now learning their fates for 2019/20.

Holders Liverpool, last season’s finalists Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Manchester City have discovered who their group-stage opponents will be when Europe’s flagship tournament kick starts again next month.

Who awaits PL quartet? Four things to know…

Reigning champions Liverpool were drawn into Group E and will face similar opponents in Napoli, who they clashed with last season, as well as Salzburg and Genk.

Man City meanwhile were the first English team to be drawn and were placed into Group C, with the Citizens competing against Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta.

Chelsea completed the Premier League clubs in pot one and were the final team to be drawn in the first phase, taking their place in Group H, with Frank Lampard’s side locking horns with Ajax, Valencia and Lille.

Finally Spurs were handed an ominous group and will take on Bayern Munich, Olympiakos and Red Star Belgrade.

Here is the 2019/20 Champions League group stage draw in full:

Winners & Losers

Winner: Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has won every domestic trophy available to him in England; he has pretty much mastered these shores. The only piece of silverware missing from his Man City mantlepiece is the most sought-after gong in club football: the ‘Big Ears’ trophy.

The Champions League is the final frontier Guardiola must pioneer before he can say his work in the North West is done. His Etihad predecessors also boast, Premier League trophies, League Cup medals and FA Cup accomplishments, but none have been able to hand Sheikh Mansour the European glory he so desperately craves.

This season presents another fantastic opportunity for Guardiola to clinch his first Champions League medal in nearly a decade having been handed an extremely favourable draw (Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta), while the likes of Real Madrid, PSG, Barcelona and Bayern Munich have all been placed into groups with other heavyweight clubs – the Catalonian may very well have one eye of the Round of 16 already.

Loser: Lionel Messi & Valverde

When Lionel Messi took the captain’s armband off Andres Iniesta last season, his first act was to give a speech in front of the Camp Nou stating his desire to end a four-year drought for Champions League glory and achieve continental dominance in his maiden campaign as skipper.

But they suffered a more humiliating and quite ridiculous turnaround in last two season, after Roma comeback, Liverpool smashed Messi and Co 4-0 at Anfield in the semi-finals having trailed by a 3-0 reversal in the first leg.

So, it’s safe to say that  Messi will be on the hunt for redemption, looking to rectify the woes of recent times and bring the coveted trophy back to Catalonia. Unfortunately for the Argentine, Barca were drawn into this season’s ‘Group of Death’ facing Borussia Dortmund and an Antonio Conte-led Inter Milan.

And the tough fixtures also could mean Valverde maybe faces a crisis of confidence early than last two seasons.

Winner: Jurgen Klopp

Last season Liverpool were made to sweat in the group stages, facing daunting tasks against PSG, Napoli and Red Star Belgrade, and only advancing to the knockout rounds by the skin of their teeth.

This time round as the Merseysiders look to regain their crown, the Reds have been handed a less ominous group, facing Napoli once more, but replacing the Parisians with Salzburg as well as Genk.

On paper the task appears straight forward enough for the German tactician, and who knows, he may even be tempted to rotate his squad and hand a few youngster some precious minutes having avoided most of the continent’s tycoon clubs.

Loser: Frank Lampard

Despite Spurs having Bayern Munich and Liverpool having Napoli in their respective groups, Chelsea arguably have the toughest of all four English clubs, as Frank Lampard faces last season’s semi-finalists and two titans from Europe’s top five leagues.

Ajax, in spite of losing talismanic duo Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, are still a considerable threat, and have spent wisely this summer with some very serious names, including Razvan Marin, Quincy Promes and Edson Alvarez, not to mention keeping hold of Donny van de Beek, David Neres and Hakim Ziyech.

Meanwhile Lille were nothing short of exceptional last season as they finished runners-up in Ligue 1, and like Ajax, despite losing key players in Thiago Mendes, Rafael Leao and Nicolas Pepe, they have signed no fewer than 13 players to remedy those voids, while Jonathan Ikone was recently called up to the France squad – they will be a substantial threat.

Finally, Valencia are an habitual Champions League club and have brought in some big names this summer with Maxi Gomez and Jasper Cillessen pitching up at the Mestalla.

It’s safe to say Lampard won’t have the luxury of resting players or blooding in youngsters to the same degree as Klopp here as every game poses a significant threat in his first season in the European dugout.

Winner: Cristiano Ronaldo

Juventus have spent big in order to reclaim the trophy they won for the last time in 1996 and will have to come through a difficult-looking group to ensure their bid stays on track.

New signings like Matthijs de Ligt, Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot have the kind of quality needed to kick Juve on to the next level. But their main hopes will again rely on Cristiano Ronaldo, the only player to score for Juve after the group stage last season and whose hattrick against Atletico Madrid in the last 16 preserved their status in the competition. He has 126 goals in all in the Champions League and has always enjoyed his outings against Atleti.

While Joao Felix and Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz are among Europe’s most promising talents, Ronaldo will find enough gaps to add to his monumental total and keep Juve on course for the knockouts.

Lokomotiv have some familiar faces in Joao Mario, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Benedikt Howedes but Ronaldo and Juve should possess too much offensive firepower for that to be a problem.

Winner: Fans who are ready for some top-class matchups

Some years we get some groups that really don't have that great of matchups, but this tournament is loaded. We will get all of these matchups twice:

Real Madrid vs PSG

Bayern vs Tottenham 

Atletico Madrid vs Juventus

Liverpool vs Napoli

Barcelona vs Dortmund

Barcelona vs Inter

Inter vs Dortmund

Chelsea vs Ajax

Valencia vs Chelsea

Valencia vs Ajax