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.
Right. Just over 30 minutes left until things get going and we're treated to yet another truly inspirational, spine-tingling montage courtesy of our European overlords.
Our man Miguel is out in Monaco to cover this evening's ceremony. Why are these things are never straightforward? Sigh.
20 minutes to go. In the meantime, why not have a quick read of this piece from Tony Evans:
A reminder of this evening's pots:
Pot one: Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester City, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Zenit St Petersburg
Pot two: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk, Tottenham, Ajax, Benfica
Pot three: Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Salzburg, Olympiakos, Club Bruges, Valencia, Inter Milan, Dinamo Zagreb
Pot four: Lokomotiv Moscow, Genk, Galatasaray, RB Leipzig, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Atalanta, Lille
Five. Minutes. To. Go. Buckle yourself in for the annual waffle fest followed by one of the most protracted draws in the game. You've got to love it, you really do.
Oh, wow. That didn't take long. We're into the first montage of the evening. I'll be keeping count and revealing the number at the end of the ceremony. Whoever guesses closest will receive a specially-designed Indy Sport shirt signed by the entire team. Good luck folks.
Time for the first gong of the evening - the president's award. Big Eric has been named as the recipient. Congrats, boss.
They've asked him what he thinks of receiving the award and, to be quite frank with you, I've got no idea what he's going on about. He's mentioned something about god, being immortal, humanity, war and crime.
You can see the hipsters raising their pints of Camden-brewed ale now. 'What a legend!'
Safe to say this beats the infamous egg trick from earlier on in the year. (If you know, you know.)
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