Chelsea Champions League draw: Blues to face Ajax, Valencia and Lille in 2019 group stage
The Blues have never faced the Dutch giants, who were the revelation of last season’s competition
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Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea will play Ajax in Group H of this season's Champions League group stage.
The Blues are back in the competition after a year out and enter as Europa League winners.
Joining Frank Lampard's side and last year's semi-finalists are Valencia and Lille in what appears to be a wide open group.
Fixtures (8pm KO unless stated)
September 17: Valencia (h)
October 2: Lille (a)
October 23: Ajax (a) - 17: 55
November 5: Ajax (h)
November 27: Valencia (a) - 17:55
December 10: Lille (h)
Frank Lampard's side will hope the minimal travel will work in their favour in their top four battle.
Frank Lampard on his objective at Chelsea to secure a long run in the Champions League after missing out last season.
“It’s important for us, it’s where we want to be,” Lampard points out. “It gets tougher every year, coming third last year and winning the Europa League gets them that [elite] status. It is where we want to be.
“I had some great nights in it, great moments and great memories. Talking about the players, they want to play in it and show what we are about.
“It is nice that we are there. It means that we need to keep our league performances up now to be there next year and tackle it head on.
“It is the greatest club competition in football and I was lucky enough to win it once. I’m looking forward to working in it as a manager.”
Chelsea are back in the Champions League, but since Roman Abramovich’s arrival in 2003, the Blues have arguably never had less expectations entering the competition.
Winning the Europa League last season confirmed a successful campaign alongside a third-placed finish, but now Frank Lampard must build on that.
He’ll know a top four finish should be complimented with a run to the last 16 here at least.
And with their place firmly in pot one as a result of their victory in Baku, they stand a good chance of qualifying out of the group stage.
Crvena Zvezda are the only team to ever win four qualifying rounds to reach the group stage of the Champions League.
They've done it in back-to-back years.
Impressive from Vladan Milojevic. Are the Belgrade side the one team every team in pots 1-3 will want to avoid from pot 4?
Can the Reds reach three successive finals?
Only seven teams have done that, Klopp will want to make that eight.
Real Madrid
2016: W 1-1 (aet; 5-3pens) v Atlético Madrid, Milan
2017: W 4-1 v Juventus, Cardiff
2018: W 3-1 v Liverpool, Kyiv
Juventus
1996: W 1-1 (aet; 4-2 pens) v Ajax, Rome
1997: L 1-3 v Borussia Dortmund, Munich
1998: L 0-1 v Real Madrid, Amsterdam
AC Milan
1993: L 0-1 v Marseille, Munich
1994: W 4-0 v Barcelona, Athens
1995: L 0-1 v Ajax, Vienna
Bayern München
1974: W 1-1/4-0 (replay) v Atlético Madrid, Brussels
1975: W 2-0 v Leeds United, Paris
1976: W 1-0 v St-Étienne, Glasgow
Ajax
1971: W 2-0 v Panathinaikos, Wembley
1972: W 2-0 v Internazionale Milano, Rotterdam
1973: W 1-0 v Juventus, Belgrade
Benfica
1961: W 3-2 v Barcelona, Berne
1962: W 5-3 v Real Madrid, Amsterdam
1963: L 1-2 v AC Milan, Wembley
Real Madrid
1956: W 4-3 v Stade de Reims, Paris
1957: W 2-0 v Fiorentina, Madrid
1958: W 3-2 (aet) v Milan, Brussels
1959: W 2-0 v Stade de Reims, Stuttgart
1960: W 7-3 v Eintracht Frankfurt, Glasgow
Surely the 'fans' can't be the only reason Dusan Tadic wants to take on Crvena zvezda...?
Manchester City are hungrier than ever to achieve Champions League success, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva have said.
The club is still waiting on their first piece of European silverware, having once again fallen short in last year's competition after losing to Tottenham in the semi-finals.
With City set to discover their group-stage fate in Monaco this evening, Pep Guardiola's men remain wholly focused on bringing home a first Champions League trophy.
“I think we played brilliantly in the second game against Tottenham,” De Bruyne said, “and we should have gone through. It’s the way it goes – you have to take it and this year, we will be there again."
Bernardo said: “In a way, it’s the trophy we are missing. Obviously, we want to keep going and keep winning things in England. The Premier League is the most important trophy by far and then obviously, the cups if we can.
“The Champions League is a special competition – it’s very difficult to win it – but we want to try and do better than the last two seasons and I think we can do it.”
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