MONACO: European champions Real Madrid will face five-time former winners Liverpool, FC Basel and debutants Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria in Group ‘B’ as the Champions League group stage draw was made at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo on Thursday.

Real won the title for the 10th time when they beat Atletico Madrid 4-1 after extra time in Lisbon in May and have the chance to avenge a 5-0 aggregate defeat to five-time champions Liverpool in the last 16 in 2009.

Further back in time Liverpool beat Real 1-0 in the 1981 European Cup final in Paris.

Ronaldo named European Footballer of the Year

Fellow Spanish giants Barcelona and former champions Ajax Amsterdam, both former clubs of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, were drawn to face the Sweden striker’s current team, Paris St Germain, and APOEL Nicosia in Group ‘F’.

But the most mouth-watering draw saw 2013 champions Bayern Munich paired with Manchester City, AS Roma and CSKA Moscow in Group ‘E’.

Arsenal will face Borussia Dortmund for the third time in four seasons with Galatasaray and Anderlecht also in that group. In another Germany v England draw, Chelsea’s group includes Schalke 04 alongside Sporting Lisbon and Maribor.

Last season’s runners-up Atletico were grouped with former champions Juventus, Olympiakos Piraeus and Malmo of Sweden.

The eight four-team groups begin play on Sept. 16-17. The top two teams in each group advance to knockout round.

Following the draw, Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo was named European Footballer of the Year after the Portuguese striker topped the journalists’ poll ahead of Manuel Neuer and Arjen Robben.

Ronaldo is the fourth recipient of the award, the previous winners were Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi.
Group stage draw:

Group ‘A’: Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Olympiakos, Malmo.

Group ‘B’: Real Madrid, FC Basel, Liverpool, Ludogorets Razgrad.

Group ‘C’: Benfica, Zenit St Petersburg, Bayer Leverkusen, AS Monaco.

Group ‘D’: Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray, Anderlecht.

Group ‘E’: Bayern Munich, Manchester City, CSKA Moscow, AS Roma.

Group ‘F’: Barcelona, Paris St Germain, Ajax, APOEL Nicosia.

Group ‘G’: Chelsea, Schalke 04, Sporting Lisbon, NK Maribor.

Group ‘H’: FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao, BATE Borisov.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2014