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Aleksander Čeferin, Uefa head honcho, trots out onstage and hands the gong to ... Luka Modric!
Before the award is handed out, there’s a brief pause for some pretty innocuous interviews with Salah and Modric. Lots of chat about pride, working hard, being role models etc.
On to the men, with Luka Modrić, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah nominated. Only two have bothered to turn up, with Ronaldo steering clear of the bash.
Pernille Harder of Wolfsburg and Denmark wins the gong! She can’t be there as she’s on international duty but says via video: “This has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. I want to give a big thanks to Wolsburg for an amazing season.”
While we watch the montage, here’s news from yesterday.
Here come the final two awards of the day: the Uefa men and women’s player of the year. First, the women - Pernille Harder, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry are the nominees.
Barry Glendenning previewed the Big Cup draw in the Fiver - how much of it get right? Find out here:
It feels like Group A will be tightly contested, with Group G very competitive too. Easiest group? Perhaps Group D - but there’s a lot of travelling involved in that one, which could have an effect.
Well then, there are some tasty ties in there. For the Premier League clubs, there are some tough draws. Liverpool have got their work cut out, Tottenham could have fared better, Manchester United will have some difficult fixtures - so perhaps Manchester City have done best of all.
Group AAtlético MadridBorussia DortmundMonaco Club Brugge
Group BBarcelonaTottenham HotspurPSV Eindhoven Internazionale
Group CPSGNapoli Liverpool Red Star Belgrade
Group DLokomotiv MoscowPortoSchalkeGalatasaray
Group EBayern MunichBenficaAjaxAEK Athens
Group FManchester CityShakhtar DonetskLyonHoffenheim
Group GReal MadridRomaCSKA Moscow Viktoria Plzeň
Group HJuventusManchester United ValenciaYoung Boys
So that means AEK Athens get Group E
Group EBayern MunichBenficaAjaxAEK Athens
Internazionale can only go into Group B. Oof
Group BBarcelonaTottenham HotspurPSV Eindhoven Internazionale
Viktoria Plzeň, the Czech champions, are drawn into Group G
Group GReal MadridRomaCSKA Moscow Viktoria Plzeň
Club Brugge are placed into Group A
Group AAtlético MadridBorussia DortmundMonaco Club Brugge
Red Star Belgrade on their return to the Champions League are drawn in Group C, which is looking very tasty
Group CPSGNapoli Liverpool Red Star Belgrade
Young Boys are off to Group H
Group HJuventusManchester United ValenciaYoung Boys
Galatasaray get Group D
Group DLokomotiv MoscowPortoSchalkeGalatasaray
Hoffenheim go into Group F - meaning it looks like this:
Group FManchester CityShakhtar DonetskLyonHoffenheim
So we’re onto Pot 4 at maximum speed
Pot 4Viktoria Plzeň Club Brugge Galatasaray Young Boys Internazionale Hoffenheim Red Star Belgrade AEK Athens
Cristiano Ronaldo gets forward of the year - but hasn’t turned up to accept it. Pah.
As it stands
Group AAtlético MadridBorussia DortmundMonaco
Group BBarcelonaTottenham HotspurPSV Eindhoven
Group CPSGNapoli Liverpool
Group DLokomotiv MoscowPortoSchalke
Group EBayern MunichBenficaAjax
Group FManchester CityShakhtar DonetskLyon
Group GReal MadridRomaCSKA Moscow
Group HJuventusManchester United Valencia
So Liverpool get Group C.
Group CPSGNapoli Liverpool
Monaco go into Group A.
Group AAtlético MadridBorussia DortmundMonaco
Ajax are next out of the bowl, and are placed straight into Group E
Group EBayern MunichBenficaAjax
PSV Eindhoven are drawn into Group B
Group BBarcelonaTottenham HotspurPSV Eindhoven
Valencia are handed Group H
Group HJuventusManchester United Valencia
Schalke are in Group D
Group DLokomotiv MoscowPortoSchalke
CSKA Moscow go into Group G.
Group GReal MadridRomaCSKA Moscow
Lyon are drawn into Group F
Group FManchester CityShakhtar DonetskLyon
Time for Pot 3:
Liverpool Schalke Lyon Monaco Ajax CSKA Moscow PSV Eindhoven Valencia
We pause again, this time for Luka Modric to be awarded the gong for Champions League midfielder of last season.
🏆 2017/18 #UCL Midfielder of the Season!⭐️ Luka Modrić 👏👏👏#UEFAawards #UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/T8RggiRIG2
As it stands:
AAtlético MadridBorussia Dortmund
BBarcelonaTottenham Hotspur
CPSGNapoli
DLokomotiv MoscowPorto
EBayern MunichBenfica
FManchester CityShakhtar Donetsk
GReal MadridRoma
HJuventusManchester United
So that means Tottenham Hotspur are in Group B with Barcelona.
Now it’s Carlo Ancelott’s Napoli: they get Group C with PSG
Benfica are pulled out of the pot by Kaka, and head straight into Group E with Bayern.
Shakhtar Donetsk go into Group F with Manchester City.
Borussia Dortmund can go into Group A, B or C and they get … A, alongside Atletico Madrid.
Borussia Dortmund can go into Group A, B or C and they get … A, alongside Atletico Madrid.
Manchester United are placed into Group H with Juventus. Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford.
Roma are out of the bowl next, and they’re added to Group G with Real Madrid. Ouch.
Porto go into Group D with Lokomotiv Moscow.
I can confirm he did.
Did Ramos just tap Salah on the shoulder as he walked past there? Cheeky!
Right, back to the draw with Pot 2: which looks like this
Borussia Dortmund PortoManchester United Shakhtar Donetsk Benfica Napoli Tottenham Hotspur Roma
Before we move on, there’s just time to hand Sergio Ramos (sat thoughtfully right behind Mo Salah), the gong for Champions League defender of last season.
So, here are how things stand:
AAtlético Madrid
BBarcelona
CPSG
DLokomotiv Moscow
EBayern Munich
FManchester City
GReal Madrid
HJuventus
So that means Lokomotiv Moscow get Group D.
Manchester City, the Premier League champions, go into Group F.
Juventus head into Group H.
It’s Group A for Atlético Madrid, thanks to their former striker Forlan.
Kaka pulls Barcelona out of the bowl, and Diego Forlan sends them unerringly into Group B.
Bayern Munich go into Group E.
Real Madrid are next out. It’s Group G for them.
Paris Saint-Germain are the first team out of the bowl. They go into Group C.
The teams to be drawn from Pot 1 are:
Real Madrid Atlético Madrid BarcelonaBayern MünchenManchester CityJuventusParis Saint-GermainLokomotiv Moscow
First comes another video: this is on the technical procedure, which you can read all about below. One interesting other point is that teams from Russia and Ukraine will not be drawn in the same group.
The draw proper is about to start: two Uefa suits are on the podium alongside Forlan and Kaka. Any minute now...
Here come more awards: goalkeeper of the season goes to Keylor Navas (a man who has just been replaced by Thibaut Courtois)
We head to a chat with Kaka and Diego Forlan celebrating Atlético Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium, the venue of the final this season, so let’s briefly head about as far away from the Champions League as we can with this lovely piece:
David Beckham speaks: “It’s great to be part of this evening. It’s been a long time since I was part of an awards show like this.
“I was very lucky to play with some of the biggest clubs, best players and greatest managers. Winning the treble was a great moment for me – it was a moment we created history. Winning the Champions League the way we won it was incredible.
“To play with the players I played with at Real Madrid was incredible too.”
He’s then asked some questions that allow him to talk charidee, pride and the usual things. He looks very pleased.
Here comes the first award of the night: the President’s Award, which recognises outstanding achievements, professional excellence and exemplary personal qualities.
Paolo Maldini, Bobby Robson, Bobby CHarlton, Eusebio and Johan Cruyff have all won it: this year Aleksander Čeferin hands the gong to David Beckham. Cue montage.
While we watch images of various players banging in goals form last season, here’s a new story you may have missed from yesterday:
Here we go - the ceremony is about to start, hosted by Reshmin Chowdhury and Pedro Pinto. But first comes a montage.
Here’s something to whet your appetite before the draw starts: the Fiver on Big Cup bingo!
Among a number of big names in the draw, one club are back after an absence of over quarter of a century: Red Star Belgrade. The team, who won the European Cup in 1991 on penalties, came back from two goals down last night to secure a 2-2 draw against Salzburg and went through on away goals. Fans invaded the pitch, mobbing the players and pulling the shirts from their back on the final whistle.
There are a number of things to get through today alongside the draw – the main elements of which are:
Uefa Men’s Player of the Year
Uefa Women’s Player of the Year
Goalkeeper of the 2017/18 Uefa Champions League season
Defender of the 2017/18 Uefa Champions League season
Midfielder of the 2017/18 Uefa Champions League season
Forward of the 2017/18 Uefa Champions League season
In Monaco, the various dignitaries, club officials and players are slowly filling the hall where the draw will take place. They’re arriving in some style too:
Here’s how Uefa works it all out:
The teams are split into four seeding pots. Pot 1 consists of the holders, the Europa League winners and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations. Pots 2 to 4 are determined by the club coefficient rankings.
No team can play a club from their own association and, based on decisions taken by the UEFA Executive Committee, clubs from Russia and Ukraine must not be drawn in the same group.
In the case of associations with two or more representatives, clubs have been paired in order to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, namely:
Real Madrid & Barcelona
Atlético Madrid & Valencia
Bayern & Dortmund
Manchester City & Tottenham
Juventus & Internazionale Milano
Paris & Lyon
Lokomotiv Moskva & CSKA Moskva
Porto & Benfica
Manchester United & Liverpool
Napoli & Roma
Schalke & Hoffenheim
Ajax & PSV Eindhoven
If a paired club is drawn, for example, in groups A, B, C or D, the other paired club – once drawn – will automatically be assigned to one groups E, F, G or H.
Good afternoon and welcome to the Champions League group stage draw. Without further ado - here are the pots:
Pot 1 Real Madrid (holders)Atlético Madrid (Europa League winners)BarcelonaBayern MünchenManchester CityJuventusParis Saint-GermainLokomotiv Moscow
Pot 2Borussia Dortmund89.000PortoManchester United Shakhtar Donetsk Benfica Napoli Tottenham Hotspur Roma Pot 3Liverpool Schalke Lyon Monaco Ajax CSKA Moscow PSV Eindhoven Valencia Pot 4Viktoria Plzeň Club Brugge Galatasaray Young Boys Internazionale Hoffenheim Red Star Belgrade AEK Athens
