Champions League group stage: How to watch, streaming, odds, key players and more

The return of the UEFA Champions League ⁠— the crown jewel of club competitions in Europe ⁠— is just hours away.

With the draw for the group stage being held a month ago and the schedules being worked out among the field of 32 teams, it's time to get down to business.

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The road to the Champions League final, which is scheduled for May 28, gets underway Tuesday with the first slate of matches.

Here's everything you need to know about the group stage:

What is the group stage and how does it work?

All 32 teams were drawn into their respective groups during the group-stage draw in August. For more on that process, check out this story on the draw results. As for the group stage itself, it consists of eight groups, lettered Group A through Group H, with four teams apiece.

During the group stage, teams will play a round-robin format, with a home game and a road game played against each group opponent. After the completion of the six group-stage competition windows, the two teams with the most points advance to the knockout round. Points are accrued by earning a win (three points) or a tie (one point), with no points being awarded for a defeat.

If, at the end of the group stage, if two or more teams are equal on points, UEFA will use a series of tiebreakers to determine which teams advance. One change in this edition of the competition is the abolition of the head-to-head away-goals rule, which had been used in the past to determine advancement.

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Away goals can still determine a tiebreaker, but it will be the total number of away goals scored in all group matches, rather than away goals scored head-to-head.

What are the groups and which one is the "Group of Death"?

The groups are as follows:

Group A: Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, Club Brugge

Group B: Atlético Madrid, Liverpool, Porto, AC Milan

Group C: Sporting CP, Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, Beşiktaş

Group D: Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sheriff Tiraspol

Group E: Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Benfica, Dynamo Kyiv

Group F: Villarreal, Manchester United, Atalanta, Young Boys

Group G: Lille, Sevilla, RB Salzburg, Wolfsburg

Group H: Chelsea, Juventus, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Malmö

As far as the "Group of Death" goes, all the groups have some sizzle ⁠— it is the Champions League, after all ⁠— but Group A and Group B have been tabbed as the most difficult groups.

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After the draw was completed, here is what FOX Sports soccer writer Doug McIntyre had to say:

"Featuring tournament favorite Paris Saint-Germain, last year’s European runner-up Manchester City, 2020 semifinalist RB Leipzig plus Belgian power Club Brugge, Group A is the clear "Group of Death" in the 2021-22 Champions League."

Drama, indeed!

How can I watch the matches?

Fans who prefer to watch in English will have to stream the group-stage matches on Paramount+, or can tune in to CBS Sports Network for "The Golazo Show," a show that will jump from game to game as goals and big moments take place.

For those looking for action in Spanish, the Univision family of networks are your answer. Group stage games can be found over the air on UniMas, TUDN, Galavision, TUDNxtra, with streaming also available among Univision's services.

Additionally, FOX Sports will be collecting all of the top moments of the action in one place, which you can view on the FOX Sports app and website throughout the day!

Tuesday features a bounty of mouthwatering matchups, but it's tough to argue against Barcelona vs. Bayern Munich (3 p.m. ET, Paramount+, UniMas, TUDN) being the best of the bunch. Wednesday follows suit, with major tilts across the board, such as Liverpool vs. AC Milan (3 p.m. ET, Paramount+, TUDNxtra) at the same time as Inter Milan vs. Real Madrid (Paramount+, Galavision).

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Which teams are favored to win their groups?

Here are the odds for each team to win their respective group, courtesy of FOX Bet, as of Monday evening. A reminder that two teams from each group move on to the knockout round, so the odds to win don't necessarily reflect how the oddsmakers might favor a team not listed here to advance.

What about to win the whole thing?

Chelsea might be the reigning champs, but they're not the favorites to defend that title.

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With Lionel Messi pulling the strings at PSG, the Ligue 1 giants are the favorites on the board to win the competition at +275. Behind PSG are Manchester City (+350), Bayern Munich (+650), Chelsea (+700) and Liverpool (+900).

Those odds can change in a flash after the first slate of group-stage matches, both for the better or worse!

Any other big names to watch?

No mention of that Messi fellow would be complete without the yin to his yang, the heads to his tails, Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese superstar made a stunning return to Manchester United a few weeks ago in a transfer from Juventus, though Messi and Ronaldo enjoyed nearly a decade of rivalry at Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively.

They aren't slated to square off in the group stage, but it will be intriguing to see how they fare after making big switches this summer.

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If goals are your kind of thing ⁠— and how could they not be? ⁠— Germany's Bundesliga brings along two of the most prolific strikers in the game with Bayern's Robert Lewandowski and Dortmund's Erling Haaland. The 33-year-old Lewandowski has 73 goals in 96 UCL appearances and was the competition's top goalscorer (15 goals) and assist provider (six) for the 2019-20 season.

Haaland, meanwhile, has been a handful despite turning 21 years old on just July 21. He has a whopping 20 goals scored in 16 Champions League appearances.

And don't forget about the ageless wonder, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, now plying his trade with AC Milan.

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Considering the pedigree of teams in the 32-team field, there is no shortage of superstars worthy of attention.

Lastly, a strong contingent of Americans could also feature on Europe's biggest stage.

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A total of 12 U.S. men's national team players are on club teams included in the competition, including Christian Pulisic (Chelsea), Tyler Adams (RB Leipzig), Sergiño Dest (Barcelona), Gio Reyna (Dortmund), Weston McKennie (Juventus), John Brooks (Wolfsburg) and Jordan Pefok (Young Boys).

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