Neymar in India, Benzema in Iraq and Ronaldo in Tajikistan - ACL sends stars across Asia

For a player used to gracing Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous Maracana Stadium or the Parc des Princes in Paris, the modest Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune might be a bit of a culture shock for Neymar, who is in line to play his first ever match on Indian soil.

The Brazil superstar and his new Al Hilal teammates were drawn in Group D of the 2023-24 Asian Champions League on Thursday, setting up trips to Iran to face Nassaji Mazandaran, Uzbekistan to take on Navbahor, and India, where they will be hosted by Mumbai City, the reigning Indian Super League champions.

Mumbai, who are part of the City Football Group, usually play their games at the Andheri Sports Complex, but that didn’t meet the AFC’s criteria, so they’ve switched to the nearby Balewadi, which holds just 11,800. The biggest star to have visited the arena previously is probably Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, who was once involved in a consortium that bought local side FC Pune City.

That will all change, however, when Neymar and his illustrious teammates – Hilal also boast Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Malcom – come to town later this year.

Mumbai's English coach, Des Buckingham, said his side were relishing the challenge of taking on some of the biggest names in world football.

“As coaches and players, we always want to test ourselves against the best," he said. "It's a wonderful opportunity for us to continue what we did last time around and to showcase what Indian football can do on that stage. We’re looking forward to giving a good account of ourselves against the likes of Al Hilal, Nassaji and Navbahor – some of the best clubs in Asia – and represent not just Mumbai but Indian football as a whole in the best