Manchester City’s Champions League journey for the 2025/26 season has been set after Thursday’s draw paired them with eight challenging opponents.
The Cityzens will travel to Spain twice to face Real Madrid and Villarreal, alongside away trips to Monaco and Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen will visit the Etihad Stadium, joined by Turkish giants Galatasaray and Italian champions Napoli: the new club of City legend Kevin De Bruyne.
Director of football Hugo Viana expressed his excitement at the draw and highlighted the significance of De Bruyne’s return to Manchester.
“Every team wants to be in the Champions League so we are really happy and proud at the same time,” Viana said.
“There are a lot of good games. The positive thing is that we avoided long trips. It is positive because of the amount of games that we have.
“From September it will be a lot of games and it will be a challenge also for us, so without having the long trips is a positive.
“We are going to face some very good teams like Real Madrid – it is the fifth [consecutive] year that we will play against them.
“It is also really positive to have Kevin De Bruyne at home, our legend. It will be very positive to see him again.
“I think Pep and all of his colleagues will be really happy to receive him and our fans will be also. It will be very exciting and we will be very happy to see him again.”
UEFA will confirm the fixture schedule, including dates and kick-off times, by Saturday.
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