PARIS: Real Madrid open the defense of their Champions League title with an opening group match at Scottish champions Celtic after the fixtures were announced on Saturday.
The 14-time victors travel to Glasgow for their Group F clash on September 6, the same night that French champions Paris Saint Germain entertain Italian giants Juventus in Group H.
Real Madrid’s bitter rivals Barcelona are in the toughest looking group along with German champions Bayern Munich and Italian side Inter Milan.
Barca, though, open their Group C campaign against Czech outfit Viktoria Plzen whilst Bayern are away at Inter Milan on September 7.
Those games serve as the appetizer before Barcelona host Bayern on September 13.
Liverpool, beaten by Real in last season’s final, travel to Napoli for their first Group A match on September 7.
Premier League rivals Chelsea and Manchester City are also both away.
Chelsea — who beat City in the 2021 final — travel to Dinamo Zagreb in Group E and Manchester City are at Spanish side Sevilla in Group G on September 6.
Two other British clubs enter the fray on September 7 — Tottenham Hotspur host Marseille in Group D whilst Rangers, who are in the same section as Liverpool, play Ajax in Amsterdam.
The group stage has been compressed this season due to the World Cup kicking off in Qatar on November 20.
Real Madrid open Champions League defense at Celtic
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Real Madrid open Champions League defense at Celtic
- The 14-time victors travel to Glasgow for their Group F clash on September 6
- Liverpool, beaten by Real in last season’s final, travel to Napoli for their first Group A match on September 7
Sweden’s Ekstrom takes Dakar stage seven win in Saudi Arabia
- Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah stays top in the car category
WADI AL-DAWASI: Mattias Ekstrom won stage seven of the Dakar Rally on Sunday as the field started the second week in Saudi Arabia with late drama for Toyota’s Henk Lategan while Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah stayed top in the car category.
South African Lategan had looked like taking the stage and overall lead but let both slip through his fingers after the day’s final checkpoint.
Instead, Sweden’s Ekstrom, winner of the prologue in a Ford Raptor, became the first driver in the top car category to take more than one stage this year.
Lategan had led Ekstrom after 417 of 459km from Riyadh to Wadi Al-Dawasir, but finished eight minutes and 35 seconds behind the winner after having to stop for 10 minutes at the 428km mark.
Ekstrom moved up to second overall, four minutes and 47 seconds behind Dacia Sandriders’ five-times Dakar winner Al-Attiyah with Lategan third.
Spaniard Nani Roma was fourth for Ford after being reinstated by stewards late on Saturday’s rest day as winner of stage five and having a one minute and 10 second penalty rescinded.
In the motorcycle category, Australian Daniel Sanders extended his lead over American rival Ricky Brabec to four minutes and 25 seconds with Argentine rider Luciano Benavides a further 15 seconds adrift.
Sanders had been a mere 45 seconds clear after Friday’s sixth stage but Honda’s Brabec finished the 459km stage 10th to the Australian’s fourth.
Argentine Benavides won the stage, his second triumph of the event, in a one-two for the Red Bull KTM factory team with Spaniard Edgar Canet, while Honda’s French challenger Adrien Van Beveren was third.
Monday’s 481km stage eight is the longest of the race with riders and drivers navigating canyons and dunes around Wadi Ad Dawasir.
