Reigning champions Inter Milan and traditional powers AC Milan and Real Madrid were handed stiff challenges as the group stages of the Champions League were set today with the draw in Monaco.
Thirty-two clubs will play across eight groups in Europe’s biggest and wealthiest club competition, with play kicking off September 14-15th. All the action is televised live on the Fox family of networks, and all game-day action is available both on FoxSoccer.com and via Twitter at @fsctv.
The trophy rich Group G is arguably the most demanding, with at least one former winner expected to go home. Seven-time European champs AC Milan and nine-time winners Real Madrid will face four-time winners Ajax Amsterdam in what is rightly this year’s group of death. Making up numbers are French minnows Auxerre, a team that qualified just last night by upsetting Russian giants Zenit St. Petersburg.
Adding to the drama is that the pairings set up a rematch of last year’s group stages, when AC Milan beat Real Madrid at the Bernabeu 3-2 behind goals from Andrea Pirlo and Brazilian magician Alexandre Pato. Both teams progressed out of the group, with that game being the lone blemish on Real Madrid’s group stage record.
Group A is another brutal group that will see Inter face Tottenham Hotspur, making their first top-level European appearance since the 1961-1962 European Cup. Hotspur, a definite comer in the powerful English Premier League, last tasted European glory in 1984 when they hoisted the second-tier UEFA Cup.
Spurs and Milan are joined by Germans Werder Bremen, who squeaked by Sampdoria in daramatic fashion Tuesday to progress into the group stages for the first time since 2008-09; and Dutch powers FC Twente, making their debut in the Champions League.
Four other clubs are making their Champions League debut this season: Portugal’s SC Braga, who upset Spanish powers Sevilla; Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv; Slovakia’s MSK Zilina and Turkish champions Bursaspor.
Group C sees a tasty clash between three-time winner Manchester United and Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers. Rangers, winners of only one European title, the Cup Winners’ Cup back in 1972, will be facing off against their former striker, Sir Alex Ferguson, who also happens to be Scotland’s greatest manager. Rounding out the group are Spain’s Valencia, runners-up in 2001-02; and outsiders Bursaspor, who were shock winners last season in Turkey’s Super Lig, edging Fenerbache by a single point.
Chelsea will have to face at least two quality teams on their annual for that elusive Champions League trophy: They are paired in Group F with French powers Olympique Marseille, Russian Spartak Moscow and Slovakia’s MSK Zilina.
Bayern Munich and Arsenal both got relatively easy draws; Last year’s finalists are expected to progress out of Group E with AS Roma; while Arsenal will face a trip to the Ukraine to play Shakhtar Donetsk, and will have to keep an eye on Portugal’s Braga, which overpowered Sevilla in the playoff stage.
Barcelona were handed perhaps the easiest draw, getting paired in Group D with faded Greeks Panathinaikos, Denmark’s Copenhagen and gaining a rematch against Russians Rubin Kazan. Rubin scored a stunning upset win over Barcelona in last year’s group stages, downing the Spanish champions 2-1 at Camp Nou, then holding them 0-0 in the rematch at Kiev.
Jamie Trecker is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering the UEFA Champions League.
