Barcelona heading into their first Champions League campaign of the post-Lionel Messi era

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League took place on Thursday evening, with five La Liga sides involved in Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Villarreal. There’s five clubs involved because Villarreal won last season’s Europa League despite finishing outside of the top four, beating Manchester United in the final in Gdansk.

Atletico have been drawn in Group B, alongside Liverpool, Porto and Milan. Madrid are in Group D, alongside Inter, Shaktar Donetsk and Sheriff. Barcelona are in Group E, alongside Bayern Munich, Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv. Villarreal are in Group F, alongside United, Atalanta and Young Boys. Finally, Sevilla are in Group G, beside Lille, Salzburg and Wolfsburg.

Barcelona will be heading into their first Champions League campaign without Lionel Messi since the diminutive Argentine broke through. The Blaugrana won the competition four times with Messi in the side, but haven’t even made it to a final since they defeated Juventus in Berlin back in 2015. Ronald Koeman’s men will fancy their chances against Benfica and Dynamo, although Bayern will undoubtedly be a stern test.

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