The draw took place in Istanbul on Thursday afternoon, with the balls selected by former Blues Michael Essien and Branislav Ivanovic, who both won the title with the club in 2012.
After lifting the trophy in Porto back in May, Thomas Tuchel’s side were placed among the top seeds in Pot 1, alongside Europa League winners Villarreal and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations who did not qualify as winners of one of the 2020/21 European titles.
Having been allocated into Group H in the first round of picks, Chelsea were joined by two-time European champions Juventus from Pot 2. We last faced the Italians in the 2012/13 group stage when a 3-0 away defeat in Turin was followed by a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, which featured a memorable goal from Oscar.
From Pot 3 came Russian champions Zenit Saint Petersburg, setting up a trip to that part of Europe for the second season in a row and a first-ever meeting between the two clubs. Group H was completed with Malmo from Pot 4, our opponents in the 2018/19 Europa League.