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Barcelona have been handed a tricky Champions League group stage draw for the 2022-23 season after being paired in Group C with Bayern Munich, Serie A side Inter, and Viktoria Plzen.
The headline news from the draw is that Barcelona’s summer signing Robert Lewandowski will be heading back to his former club for a swift reunion in Europe’s top competition.
Barcelona will also need no reminding they faced the Bavarian giants last season in the competition and were comprehensively beaten 3-0 both home and away. The results helped ensure Barca did not make it out of the group and dropped into the Europa League instead.
Expectations will be higher this time around after a summer of big spending at the Camp Nou. Lewandowski is one of five new players to arrive along with Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie.
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The UCL Draw in Full
Lewandowski is not the only player set to make a swift return to his former club with the Champions League throwing up plenty of intriguing ties. Manchester City attacker Erling Haaland is also set for a reunion with Borussia Dortmund following his summer move.
The two clubs have been drawn together in Group G along with La Liga side Sevilla and FC Copenhagen. Here’s a look at the draw in full:
Holders Real Madrid are in Group F along with RB Leipzig, Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic, while last season’s runners-up Liverpool will take on Ajax, Napoli, and Scottish side Rangers in Group A.
Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain will be one of the favorites to lift the European Cup this season and face fixtures against Juventus, Benfica, and Maccabi Haifa.
Bayern React To Facing Barcelona
Bayern chief Hasan Salihamidžic attended the draw and offered his thoughts on his team’s chances in the competition and the prospect of coming up against Lewandowski and Barcelona.
“Only football writes such stories. We faced them last season too. Barcelona have strengthened well, they have a top team, including Lewy. It will be two very exciting games. We’re looking forward to it,” he said. “We always want to compete at the top and of course we’ll try to win every game. It’s not an easy group. The teams have strengthened well. But we’re looking forward to it.”
Bayern will be favorites to top the group but Barca will be hoping to improve on last season and make it through to the knockout stages which means the two games against Inter could prove key.
The two sides have faced each other in the competition recently. The last encounters were in the 2019-20 season when Barca won 2-1 against the Serie A side home and away.
In total the teams have met 10 times in the competition with Barcelona having the better overall record. The Catalans have won six of those matches, drawn three and lost only once to the Nerazzurri in the Champions League.
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