Welcome to Sportstar 's live coverage of the 2018-19 Champions League group stage draw, which is taking place in Monaco.
10.45pm: That brings tonight's draw to an end.
10.44pm: The UEFA Men's Player of the Year award goes to Luka Modric! Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah were the others in contention and one could make a case for either. All three have had an extraordinary season but it's card to argue against Modric. A Champions League trophy, reached the semifinals of the World Cup and was declared as the best player of the World Cup.
10.43pm: Danish star Pernille Harder wins the UEFA Women's Player of the Year award. Amandine Henry and Ada Hegerberg were the other two nominees.
10.42pm: The Men's and Women's player of the year awards are next.
10.37pm: A new award is up for grabs and it's the UEFA Equal Game Award. And Georgia's Gurram Kashia wins it.
10.36pm: That's it, that's the draw done. Phew!
10.35pm: Inter Milan is next and only one group is open for it, and that's group B. Which means AEK Athens is in group E.
10.33pm: Viktoria Piezen is put in group G.
10.32pm: It's group C for Red Star Belgrade and group A for Club Brugge.
10.30pm: Young Boys is in group H.
10.28pm: Hoffenheim goes into group F and Galatasaray goes into group D.
10.27pm: Pot 3 is done and Cristiano Ronaldo is declared as the winner of the Forward of the year. He isn't there to pick up his award though.
10.26pm: Monaco goes into group A, which means Liverpool slots into group C.
10.25pm: Ajax next and only one group is open for it, so it goes into group E.
10.24pm: PSV Eindhoven is next and gets paired with Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur in with group B.
10.23pm: Valencia CF is in group H, along with Juventus an Manchester United.
10.22pm: FC Schalke has only three groups open for it and it's put in group D with Locomotiv Moscow and FC Porto.
10.21pm: CSKA Moscow is in group G, along with Real Madrid and AS Roma.
10.20pm: Time for pot 3 now. First out is Olympique Lyon and its put in group F with Manchester City and Shaktar Donetsk.
10.18pm: Pot 2 done, which means it's time for another award. Luca Modric picks up the Midfielder of the Season award.
10.17pm: Tottenham Hotspur is paired with Barcelona in group B. Tasty!
10.16pm: Benfica moves to group E and Napoli moves to group C.
10.15pm: Shaktar Donetsk move into group F. Reunion for Fred!
10.14pm: Group A for Borussia Dortmund, with Atletico Madrid.
10.13pm: Manchester United is next and it goes into group H, alongside Juventus. Could this be (another?) potential group of death?!
10.12pm: AS Roma is out next and only six groups are open for it. They could potentially form a part of a group of death. Aaaaaand it gets paired with Real Madrid in group G.
10.10pm: We begin pot 2 now. First out is FC Porto and, according to the rules, all the groups are open for it. They move into group D, along with Locomotiv Moscow.
10.07: We are done with pot 1 and that means it's time for another award, the UEFA Defender of the Season. And Sergio Ramos bags it.
10.06pm: Locomotiv Moscow, the Russian champion, slots into group D.
10.05pm: The English champion Manchester City, which is on it's eighth consecutive appearance in the competition, goes into group F.
10.04pm: Kaka picks out Italian champion Juventus next and it goes into H.
10.03pm: Europa League champion Atletico Madrid goes into group A.
10.02pm: Spanish champions Barcelona goes into group B and we are half way through pot 1.
10.01pm: German champions Bayern Munich is the third team out of the pot and it goes into group E.
10pm: Next up is the Champions League holder Real Madrid, which goes into group G.
9.59pm: First team to be drawn is Paris Saint Germain, the French champion. And it goes into group C.
9.55pm: After one award, we pause to get an explanation of how the draw work.
9.53pm: Pedro Pinto and Keylor Navas had a quick chat in Spanish. We're waiting for the translators....
9.50pm: It's the Goalkeeper of the Season award first and Keylor Navas picks it up. With three consecutive Champions League trophies, it's hard to disagree with that choice.
9.50pm: Next up are the many (many!) awards.
9.48pm: Kaka and Diego Forlan are the two stars UEFA picked to help with this year's draw, and they are on the stage talking about their careers, their experiences in the Champions League and about their El Clasico experiences.
9.45pm: Like most years, there are quite a few debutants in this year's competition too — German side Hoffenheim and Swiss Super League champion Young Boys.
9.43pm: The first award tonight is the UEFA President's Award, which is going to David Beckham. There's a video montage of his career's highlights before he comes on to the stage. Considering the career he has had, this could take time...
9.37pm: Pedro Pinto, UEFA's head of media, and presenter Reshmin Chowdhury open the ceremony.
9.35pm: The usual question before every group stage draw, what will be the group of death and who will be in it? It's not easy to predict it this year, there are quiet a few interesting permutations and combinations.
9.30pm: Benfica's qualification means Liverpool has dropped into Pot 3, which could mean it gets a a much tougher group than earlier expected. In a similar story, FC Basel's failure to qualify means AS Roma is in Pot 2 now, which means it is likely to get an easier group than expected.
9.20pm: The draw aside, there are also the UEFA awards to be announced — the Men's and Women's Player of the Year, Goalkeeper of the Season, Defender of the Season, Midfielder of the Season, Forward of the Season and the Europa League Player of the Season. Three players are in contention for each award and here's the entire list:
- Men's Player of the Year: Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Luka Modric
- Women's Player of the Year: Amandine Henry, Pernille Harder, Ada Hegerberg
- Goalkeeper of the Season: Gianluigi Buffon, Alisson Becker, Keylor Navas
- Defender of the Season: Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Raphaël Varane
- Midfielder of the Season: Luka Modric, Kevin De Bruyne, Toni Kroos
- Forward of the Season: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah
- Europa League Player of the Season: Diego Godin, Antoine Griezmann, Dimitri Payet
9.15pm: Here are the draw pots:
- Pot 1: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Lokomotiv Moscow
- Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli, Tottenham Hotspur, Roma
- Pot 3: Liverpool, Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, Ajax, CSKA Moscow, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia
- Pot 4: Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Inter Milan, Hoffenheim, Red Star Belgrade, AEK Athens
It's that time of the season when excitement levels reach a new high courtesy of the Champions League Group-Stage Draw, to decide the eight groups (A to H).
Here's the preview of tonight's draw , discussing the potential opponents for the 32 teams, the potential group of death and more.
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