Seeding was determined by the
UEFA coefficients. The 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on their
UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season, with the title holders being placed in Pot 1 automatically. They were drawn into eight groups of four containing one team from each of the four seeding pots, with the restriction that teams from the same national association could not be drawn against each other. Clubs from the same association were paired up to split the matchdays between Tuesday and Wednesday. For the nations with three or four clubs in the group stage, the following clubs were paired (so that the clubs from the same pair would play on different days):
Milan and
Internazionale,
Roma and
Lazio,
Barcelona and
Real Madrid,
Valencia and
Sevilla,
Arsenal and
Chelsea,
Liverpool and
Manchester United,
Benfica and
Sporting CP,
Werder Bremen and
VfB Stuttgart. Additionally, winner of the qualifier between
Sevilla and
AEK Athens was paired with
Olympiacos. ;Notes ==Tie-breaking criteria==