Champions League: Real Madrid begins campaign for 16th title against Inter Milan
Record 15-time European champions Real Madrid will start the league phase of the Champions League on September 8 when they host coach José Mourinho's former club Inter Milan.
UEFA published match dates for each of the 36 teams' eight-game schedules on Saturday, two days after the draw in Monaco.
In two early starts on the opening day, Club Brugge will host Aston Villa and AEK Athens will welcome LASK, the newcomers from Austria. Both games will kick off at 6:45 p.m.
One day later, defending champions Paris Saint-Germain will host Slovan Bratislava -- coached by Yaya Touré, the first African to lead a team in the league phase -- and Liverpool will host Atlético Madrid, a repeat of their opening game last season. That was a 3-2 win for Liverpool at Anfield.
Manchester City hosting PSG on October 14 is a highlight of the second round of games played more than one month later, after the new and extended four-game slate for national teams.
PSG will then face Barcelona at Parc des Princes on October 20, one day before Bayern Munich host Arsenal.
Barcelona's next trip will take them far east to play Sabah in Baku on November 25, before the Spanish champions host Man City on December 8.
Arsenal will host Real Madrid on December 9 for the first of coach Mourinho's scheduled two visits to London.
Madrid will return on the final match day, January 27, to face Shakhtar Donetsk at Chelsea, where Mourinho won three Premier League titles for the club's Russian then-owner Roman Abramovich. Stamford Bridge is the Ukrainian champions' choice of neutral venue for their four home games.
Each Norwegian team must have a home game in January, during their domestic offseason when the weather should be at its worst
, and both will be in the seventh round.
Bodo/Glimt will welcome Atlético Madrid to the Arctic Circle at their tiny stadium on January 19, and Viking will host PSV Eindhoven in Stavanger one day later.
The final round on January 27 sees all 18 games start at the same time, when it's 9 p.m. in central Europe, and Barcelona will host newcomers Como coached by their former star Cesc Fàbregas.
Como get the toughest January run-in after hosting PSG one week earlier.
PSG will finish by hosting Galatasaray, Arsenal will host Sabah and Bayern will host Real Betis.
The top eight teams in the final standings go directly to the round of 16 in March. Teams placed ninth to 24th enter the knockout playoffs in February to decide the other eight teams in the round of 16. Teams placed 25th to 36th are eliminated.
