August 28 – If there wasn’t quite a group of death, Manchester City arguably again drew the short straw in the draw for the group stages of the Champions League.
This time City, who have once again spent big in their quest to land Europe’s premier club trophy, at least avoided Barcelona but have a tough-looking task against Juventus, last season’s beaten finalists, Europa League winners Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach who finished third in the German league last season.
There will be familiar opponents in the shape of Bayern Munich and Arsenal who clash for the third time in four seasons but should both progress at the expense of Olympiakos, allowed into the competition despite serious match-fixing allegations in Greece, and Dinamo Zagreb
Manchester United, back in the big time after a one-season absence, had the luck of the draw against PSV Eindhoven, with Dutch striker Memphis Depay set to face his old club, CSKA Moscow and VfL Wolfsburg though the last of these represent dangerous dark horses.
Chelsea were handed a plum tie against Porto, the club Jose Mourinho steered to a remarkable Champions League title in 2004, while Benfica face the longest journey ever in the competition after being drawn with newcomers Astana of Kazakhstan.
Group A: Paris St-Germain, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmo
Group B: PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, VfL Wolfsburg
Group C: Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray, Astana
Group D: Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla, Borussia Monchengladbach
Group E: Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, AS Roma, BATE Borisov
Group F: Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Olympiakos, Dinamo Zagreb
Group G: Chelsea, Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Group H: Zenit St Petersburg, Valencia, Olympique Lyon, Gent
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