Champions League draw: Celtic to face RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund

Celtic have been drawn to face top seeds RB Leipzig and last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund in the new-look Champions League – and have a trip to play John McGinn’s Aston Villa in a ‘Battle of Britain’ tie.

The Scottish champions will also take on Atalanta, Club Brugge, Young Boys, Dinamo Zagreb and Slovan Bratislava in the competition.

Celtic were named among the third seeds in the draw, which was conducted by computer and revealed at UEFA’s event in Nyon, Switzerland.

The European governing body’s revamp of the competition has seen the old ‘group stage’ format replaced with a single league of 36 teams.

Each side plays eight matches against eight different teams, with four games at home and four away.

The top eight sides in the overall table qualify automatically for the round of 16.

Teams between ninth and 24th place go through to a play-off round, with the winners progressing to the last 16.

Celtic will face top seeds RB Leipzig at home, and fellow pot one side and Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund away.

From the second seeds, Celtic travel to take on Atalanta and are at home to Club Brugge.

Third seeds Young Boys will play the Scottish champions in Glasgow and Celtic have a trip to Zagreb to take on Dinamo.

Completing the draw are the two sides from the bottom pot of seeds. Celtic will face Slovan Bratislave at home and Aston Villa away.

The Parkhead club will now look to gain enough points from eight tough games to progress in the competition, with a variety of different challenges awaiting Brendan Rodgers and his side.

The league phase begins in the midweek of September 17-19. October has two matchdays, on the 1-2 and 22-23, and the November matches are played on 5-6 and 26-27.

December has only one matchday, on the midweek of 10-11, with the League Phase concluding with matchday seven on January 21-22 and the final games on January 29.

The order of games, along with dates and kick-off times, will not be published by UEFA until Saturday, August 31.