Chelsea have been grouped with Juventus, Zenit Saint Petersburg and Malmo in the first stage of the 2021/22 Champions League.
The draw took place in Istanbul on Thursday afternoon, with the balls selected by former Blues Michael Essien and Branislav Ivanovic, who both won the title with the club in 2012.
After lifting the trophy in Porto back in May, Thomas Tuchel’s side were placed among the top seeds in Pot 1, alongside Europa League winners Villarreal and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations who did not qualify as winners of one of the 2020/21 European titles.
Having been allocated into Group H in the first round of picks, Chelsea were joined by two-time European champions Juventus from Pot 2. We last faced the Italians in the 2012/13 group stage when a 3-0 away defeat in Turin was followed by a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, which featured a memorable goal from Oscar.
From Pot 3 came Russian champions Zenit Saint Petersburg, setting up a trip to that part of Europe for the second season in a row and a first-ever meeting between the two clubs. Group H was completed with Malmo from Pot 4, our opponents in the 2018/19 Europa League.
UEFA are yet to confirm the availability of tickets for away fans at Champions League games this season. Therefore, supporters are strongly urged to refrain from making any travel arrangements for those games until further information has been set out.
Neutral venues, closed stadiums and the absence of away fans are all still possibilities, as has been the case during the qualifying stages of this season’s European competitions and will be again for matches during September’s international break. A decision regarding away club ticketing is currently under review and further information from UEFA is expected shortly.
The exact dates for the fixtures will be announced by 11am on Saturday morning but the possible matchdays are set out below:
Matchday 1: 14/15 SeptemberMatchday 2: 28/29 SeptemberMatchday 3: 19/20 OctoberMatchday 4: 2/3 NovemberMatchday 5: 23/24 NovemberMatchday 6: 7/8 December
Our Under-19 side will mirror the senior team in Group H of the UEFA Youth League, playing the same teams.