UEFA announced at a press conference on Friday that Europe’s leading leagues in their co-efficient rankings – now the Premier League, Spain’s LaLiga, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A – will all have automatic qualification for top-four finishers.
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In six campaigns as a club coach, Guardiola has never failed to reach the semi-finals of Europe’s premier competition, an intriguing backdrop to the clash with Barca in a group that also contains Celtic and Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Claudio Ranieri’s side could have been drawn in a group with last season’s beaten finalists Atletico Madrid, Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven and Turkish league winners Besiktas.
“When I moved here in Rostov from Atletico Madrid, a lot of people said that it was a mistake but in fact I worked hard and now we’re in the UEFA Champions League group stage”, Ezatolahi said.
This means that the Primera Division, Bundesliga, Premier League and Serie A will all have four teams entered straight into the group stage of the competition.
The threat of a breakaway European Super League had appeared significant earlier this year, and Press Association Sport reports that the biggest push for change has come from Spain and Italy, the nation that looks set to benefit the most from the adjustment.
Elsewhere, European champions Real Madrid will face off against German giants Borussia Dortmund, while Champions League debutants Leicester City have scored themselves a favorable draw that they’ll be confident of qualifying from.
NEIL Doncaster, the SPFL chief executive, last night welcomed confirmation the “champions route” into the Champions League has been retained by UEFA.
Another major change will see the victor of the Europa League gain automatic entry into the group stage, whereas the reigning Europa League champions are forced to earn their place in the Champions League through a play-off.
Uefa have also announced changes to the co-efficient calculation.
The Blues were drawn alongside Barcelona, Borussia Monchengladbach and Celtic in Group C of this season’s competition.
The Turkish league must maintain or improve upon being the inside the top 10 leagues in Europe to maintain a guaranteed Champions League group stage spot under the new rulings.
In Group A, Alex Iwobi’s Arsenal will come up against Ligue 1 champions, Paris Saint-Germain, FC Basel and Ludogorets as they participate in the Champions League for the 19th year in a row.
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The first group games will take place on 15 September, with the group stage culminating on 16 December.
