DIRECT. Champions League draw: Paris and Lille will soon know their groups

The essential

• The draw for the group stages, scheduled from September 13/14 to December 7/8, takes place from 6 p.m. in Istanbul.
• PSG, placed in hat 2, can expect the worst as well as the best. The best being in particular to avoid AC Milan, back in C1 and placed in the hat 4.
• Lille may well be placed in hat 1 as the reigning French champion. His hen could turn out to be rather strong, in view of the cadors appearing in pot 2.

6:40 p.m. Lille is in group G!

6:38 p.m. The draw finally begins. Manchester City come out first (group A), Atlético Madrid in second (group B), Sporting Portugal in third (group C) …

6.15 p.m. And to think that Monaco almost was. ASM delivered a superb performance last night in the return jump-off to Shakhtar Donetsk but was outrageously unsuccessful. The Monegasques will play the Europa League with OL and OM and will know their menu tomorrow at noon.

6:10 p.m. Reminder of some rules.

– Hat 1 includes the defending champion (Chelsea), the winner of the Europa League (Villarreal) and the champions of the six highest ranked nations on the UEFA index. Hats 2 to 4 are determined by the ranking of club coefficients.

– Two clubs from the same country cannot compete in groups.

– The teams classified 3rd will be transferred to the UEFA Europa League play-offs and will face the second in groups of the Europa League for a place in the round of 16.

6:00 p.m. The ceremony is about to start. It takes place this year in Istanbul, Turkey with the draw Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Essien, C1 winners in 2012 with Chelsea.

5:40 p.m. “This is our objective, we do not hide it”. President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi recalled in August how much he still dreamed of C1. Obviously given the transfer window made this summer with Messi, Hakimi, Wijnaldum and Donnarumma.