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ISTANBUL. – Title holders Real Madrid and the rest of Europe’s elite clubs will be able to start plotting their route to Champions League football glory when the draw for this season’s group stage is made in Istanbul today from 6pm.
All going to plan, the journey will end back in the Turkish city on June 10 next year for the final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, the same venue where Liverpool defeated AC Milan on penalties in 2005.
Istanbul was supposed to host the final in 2020 and again in 2021, but on each occasion UEFA moved the game to Portugal due to pandemic-related restrictions.
Another late change was required last season, with Saint-Petersburg being stripped of the final after Russia invaded Ukraine, and Paris instead stepping in to host Madrid’s 1-0 victory over Liverpool.
The Spanish giants have now been crowned kings of Europe 14 times, twice as many times as the competition’s next most successful club, AC Milan, and they started this season by defeating Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt in Helsinki to lift the Uefa Super Cup.
“The joy and satisfaction you get after such wins tends to stick around, making you feel like no one should ever take your place. And that’s a pretty strong motivation to keep winning,” coach Carlo Ancelotti told Uefa.com in a recent interview when asked about the chances of a repeat triumph for his side.
Their success is likely to be recognised elsewhere today, with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Karim Benzema nominated alongside Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year prize for last season. – AFP.
Online Reporter