
Champions League Draw 2018: Schedule, Live Stream, More for Group Announcement
The group stage for the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League will be decided on Thursday when the draw takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
In a tournament dominated by Real Madrid in recent years—they have won four of the last five editions—the 31 other sides set to compete will be eager to topple the Spanish giants from their perch this season.
The 32 sides are split into four seeded pots, with the groups of four comprising one team from each, although sides cannot been drawn in the same group if they are from the same association.
Here are full details for when and how to live-stream the draw:
Date: Thursday, August 30
Time: 5 p.m. BST/noon ET
TV: BT Sport 2 (UK), Univision Deportes (U.S.)
Live Stream: UEFA.com, BT Sport Player, B/R Live, fuboTV
Pot 1 for the 2018-19 group stage is incredibly strong. Real are joined by Atletico Madrid and Barcelona—both of whom finished above them in La Liga last term—as well as Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Lokomotiv Moscow.
Aside from Lokomotiv, all seven other members of Pot 1 should be favourites to top their respective groups no matter who they are drawn with.
All the teams in lower pots—even the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund and AS Roma—will likely be hoping they are paired with the Russian Premier League champions, as opposed to any of the other top seeds.
Juventus have bolstered their chances of going all the way in the tournament this year by adding Cristiano Ronaldo to their squad.
As well as improving their own ranks with the most prolific Champions League goalscorer of all time, they have also weakened Real.
The Italian champions have reached the final in two of the last four editions of the competition, but they have not won Europe's biggest prize since 1996.
Barcelona and PSG are two sides who have underachieved recently on the continental stage.
The Blaugrana triumphed in 2014-15, but they have since been unable to get past the quarter-final stage, something they will be desperate to change this season.

PSG, meanwhile, have failed in their bid to challenge for the Champions League since a takeover by Qatari investors ushered in a new dawn for the club in 2011.
They returned to the continent's elite competition for the 2012-13 season and reached four quarter-finals in a row.
Despite immense investment, though, they have been unable to get beyond the last-16 stage in the past two years.
This season, if they are to avoid the risk of losing key stars such as Neymar and Kylian Mbappe next summer, they must launch a proper bid for the trophy by at least reaching the semi-finals.
Perhaps the biggest threat to Real this season is Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola's Sky Blues were breathtaking in their record-breaking 2017-18 campaign as they won the Premier League title at a canter.
City's Champions League campaign last term was stopped in emphatic fashion at the quarter-final stage by eventual finalists Liverpool.
However, after adding reinforcements in the summer and with Guardiola having succeeded in his task to get a Premier League trophy under his belt, City could go all the way this season.





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