The Women's Champions League group stage draw has taken place.

Manchester City will face Champions League winners Barcelona in their inaugural group stage campaign. The draw on Friday placed Arsenal alongside Bayern Munich and Juventus, while Chelsea and Celtic were drawn in a group with Real Madrid.

City's previous appearance in the Champions League proper was in 2020-21, when they were defeated 4-2 on aggregate by Barcelona in the quarterfinals. The group stage was created the following season, and City has been eliminated twice in qualification by Madrid.

Two teams will advance from each of the four groups, with City the favourites to face Barcelona after being drawn alongside Austrian club St Pölten and Swedish side Hammarby. City advanced with an 8-0 aggregate win over Paris FC, who defeated Arsenal and Wolfsburg on their way to last season's group stage.

For the first time, three English teams are in the group stage, with Arsenal winning 4-0 at home after losing 1-0 in the first leg to Swedish side Häcken. The Gunners will face two familiar characters in Group C: Juventus in the 2022-23 group stage and Bayern in the quarter-finals, whom they upset 2-1 on aggregate before losing to Wolfsburg. Vålerenga, the Norwegian champions, rounds up the group.

Chelsea secured an automatic berth in the group stage and were unable to face any of their fellow pot one sides (Barcelona, Bayern, or Lyon) or another English team, leaving only Madrid and Wolfsburg to face them from pot 2. Chelsea has the easiest of the groups, meeting Madrid, the Dutch champions, Twente, and Celtic. This is the first time a Scottish team has advanced to the group stage, however Glasgow City did reach the quarter-finals twice in the previous knockout format.

Lyon and Wolfsburg, who have previously met in three finals, are in Group A alongside Roma and Galatasaray.

The first group games will be played on October 8-9, with the last on December 17-18. The match dates are anticipated to be published on Saturday. The final will take place in Lisbon between May 23 and 25, with the exact day to be determined.

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