Champions League football: Manchester City get the ‘Group of Death'

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League has ended in bad news for Manchester City once again, while Liverpool, on their return to Europe for the first time since the 2009-10 season, will face reigning champions Real Madrid in perhaps the pick of the ties.

Arsenal will take on German giants Borussia Dortmund—one of the hardest teams they could have been drawn against from Pot 2. The sides met at this stage of the competition last year with the teams beating each other on the others home ground. Arsenal will also play Galatasaray and Anderlecht.

Manchester City will feel unlucky to have been paired with Roma. The Serie A side were among the teams in Pot 4, despite being rated much above that. Manuel Pellegrini’s side also face German champions Bayern Munich in what will be a great test of their credentials. The fourth team is CSKA Moscow.

Chelsea have arguably the easiest draw. Jose Mourinho’s side, among the favourites for the competition, have been paired with Schalke 04, Sporting Lisbon and Maribor.

Barcelona and PSG should dominate Group F, where the two teams were drawn with Ajax and APOEL, while last season's beaten finalists Atletico Madrid are in Group A with Juventus, Olympiacos and Malmo.

Benfica, Zenit, Leverkusen and Monaco make up Group C while in Group H Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao and Belarus side BATE Borisov will battle it out. In Group B, Ludogorets enjoyed a charmed passage to the group stage after the most unlikely of wins over a Romanian champions Steaua Bucharest in the play-offs.

Defender Cosmin Moti went in goal after keeper Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off and saved two shoot-out penalties to send his club into the group stage for the first time ever. The 29-year-old even scored the first spot-kick himself, while still wearing his gloves, before going in goal to provide more heroics.