Champions League group stage draw: things you need to know

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The draw for the group stage of the 2017/2018 Champions League will be held this Friday.

Real Madrid are seeking to make it an unprecedented three titles in a row, following a successful defence of their title in June this year.

There will be six British teams in the Champions League group stage draw this year, with Celtic and Liverpool joining Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Manchester United.

The draw begins at 5pm BST (6pm CET) at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco and is scheduled to last two and a quarter hours. You can watch the draw on BT Sport 2 or via a live stream on Uefa.com.

The draw consists of 32 teams, which comprises 22 direct entrants and 10 via play-offs. Those teams are divided into four pots and then drawn into eight different groups – with one team from each pot. No team can draw another from their own country or from the same pot.

POT 1: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Juventus, Benfica, Monaco, Spartak Moscow and Shakhtar Donetsk

POT 2: Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, PSG, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla, Manchester City, Porto and Manchester United

POT 3: Napoli, Tottenham, Basle, Olympiacos, Anderlecht, Liverpool, Roma and Besiktas

POT 4: Celtic, CSKA Moscow, Sporting Lisbon, APOEL Nicosia, Feyenoord, Maribor, Qarabag andRB Leipzig

The group stage games will be split into six match days with games to be played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights:

12-13 September

26-27 September

17-18 October

31 October-1 November

21-22 November

5-6 December