A comfortable European draw for Barcelona, and a very tough one for Real Madrid

Find out the draw

The draw for the league phase of the UEFA Women's Champions League revealed contrasting paths for Spain's two giants. Barcelona were handed a group that looks relatively within their reach on the road to the Warsaw final. Real Madrid drew the short straw, landing tough ties against Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.

Barcelona will host Arsenal, Paris FC and Servette, then travel to Bayern Munich, Roma and Denmark's Koge. The Catalan side are targeting a top-four finish in the league phase to book direct passage to the quarter-finals.

Arsenal loom as the toughest of Barcelona's home fixtures. The English side denied the Catalans in the 2015 final.

There is a tricky trip to Bayern Munich too, the very side that dumped Barcelona out at the semi-final stage last season. They did, however, dodge Manchester City and Inter Milan from the third pot, with Servette and Koge coming their way instead.

The opening round gets under way on 22 and 23 September. The competition then runs through to the sixth and final round on 16 December.

Full fixtures and the detailed schedule land tomorrow, Saturday.

Real Madrid face a far sterner campaign. The draw pitted them against Paris Saint-Germain, Paris FC and Inter Milan at Valdebebas, with trips to Bayern Munich, Roma and Manchester City to follow.

Barcelona will look to extend their European dominance after topping the league phase last season with 16 points from 18. They went on to lift the trophy with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Lyon in the final in Oslo.

The knockout draw takes place on 18 December. The play-offs follow on 3, 4, 10 and 11 February, the quarter-finals on 23, 24 and 31 March and 1 April, and the semi-finals on 1, 2, 8 and 9 May. It all builds to the final at the National Stadium in the Polish capital Warsaw on 29 May 2027.