Ajax, Valencia and Lille will be our opponents in the group stage of the 2019/20 Champions League.
The draw was made in Monaco on Thursday evening and has also established the teams Chelsea Under-19s will be playing in the UEFA Youth League, which has groups mirroring those of the senior competition.After a season away playing in the Europa League, which we won, we were in the pot for the top Champions League seeds thanks to our triumph in Baku in May, and it was our own Petr Cech who was one of the former star players chosen to pull the balls from the pots and set up the group-stage rivalries.He helped select games for the Blues against Dutch champions and last season's Champions League semi-finalists Ajax, whom we have never previously played in a competitive fixture and were in Pot 2. Familiar opponents for Chelsea in this competition, Valencia, came from Pot 3 and from the pot of the lowest seeds came French runners-up Lille.The dates of our six Champions League fixtures are:
Matchday 1Tuesday 17 September - Chelsea v Valencia, kick-off 8pm UK time
Matchday 2Wednesday 2 October - Lille v Chelsea, kick-off 8pm UK time
Matchday 3Wednesday 23 October - Ajax v Chelsea, kick-off 5.55pm UK time
Matchday 4Tuesday 5 November - Chelsea v Ajax, kick-off 8pm UK time
Matchday 5Wednesday 27 November - Valencia v Chelsea, kick-off 5.55pm UK time
Matchday 6Tuesday 10 December - Chelsea v Lille, kick-off 8pm UK time
Although we have never met Ajax in European competition, we did play them in a pre-season friendly in Amsterdam in 2010.They beat PAOK, opponents of ours last season in the Europa League, and APOEL Nicosia in qualifying to reach this season’s group stage. The Eredivisie champions have won two and drawn one of their three league fixtures this season. They are managed by Erik ten Hag and play in the 55,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, the stadium where we won the 2013 Europa League final.We have played Valencia in three previous Champions League campaigns: the quarter-final in 2007, which we won 3-2 on aggregate, then in the group stages later that same year and again in 2011 on our way to victory in the competition. Frank Lampard scored Chelsea’s goal on our last trip to the Mestalla, which ended in a 1-1 draw.Valencia, managed by Marcelino Garcia Toral, have started their La Liga campaign with a draw and a defeat. They finished fourth at home last season when they also reached the Europa League semi-finals, where they were beaten by Arsenal.
Like Ajax, Lille represent fresh opposition for us. They qualified by finishing second in Ligue 1 and so far this season have won two and lost one of their games. They play in the Stade Pierre Mauroy, a 50,000-seater that held six fixtures at Euro 2016.Their former players include Joe Cole, Eden Hazard and Salomon Kalou. This summer they signed Timothy Weah, son of George, from PSG.
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