The group stage of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League was played from 17 September to 11 December 2013.
[1] The draw was held on 29 August 2013, 17:45 CEST (UTC+2), at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco.
There were other restrictions, e.g., teams from the same city (e.g., Chelsea and Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City, Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid) in general did not play at home on the same matchday (UEFA tried to avoid teams from the same city playing at home on the same day or on consecutive days), and Russian teams did not play at home on the last matchday due to cold weather.
In each group, teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.
If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:[1] The matchdays were 17–18 September, 1–2 October, 22–23 October, 5–6 November, 26–27 November, and 10–11 December 2013.