European Champions League draw is set
SOCCER
Group matchups include Real Madrid-Juventus and Liverpool-PSV Eindhoven. Defending champion Manchester United has a tough road.
It seems only yesterday that John Terry's feet slipped out from under him on the rainy Moscow turf, his potential game-winning penalty kick flew wide and Chelsea lost the European Champions League final to Manchester United.
Yet, here we are again.
On Thursday in Monaco, 32 teams from 17 nations were divided into eight groups of four, setting the stage for the 54th and latest edition of Europe's most captivating soccer tournament. The group-stage clashes that the draw produced were intriguing.
* Nine-time champion Real Madrid versus two-time champion and seven-time runner-up Juventus.
* Five-time champion Liverpool versus former champion PSV Eindhoven.
* Four-time champion Bayern Munich against Olympique Lyon, winner of the last seven French titles in a row.
European nights do not get much better than that, and it all starts with the first round of matches Sept. 16 and 17 and proceeds until only two teams remain to contest the final in Rome on May 27.
After round-robin play between now and December, the top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stage next spring.
And, yes, Manchester United and Chelsea will again be along for the ride. Players from both teams were honored at the draw ceremony Thursday for their performance last season.
Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo was named UEFA's club player of the year and forward of the year, while Chelsea's Terry, Petr Cech and Frank Lampard were selected as defender, goalkeeper and midfielder of the year, respectively.
Defending champion Manchester United was not handed the easiest of tasks. Its group also features Scottish champion Celtic, Villareal (which finished second in the Spanish league, behind Real Madrid but ahead of Barcelona) and Denmark's Aalborg.
"They will be two huge games," Manchester United chief executive David Gill said of the series against Celtic, which knocked United out of the competition two years ago.
Chelsea, in contrast, has a relatively smooth passage ahead of it. Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's introduction to the tournament will see his Blues play home and home against Italian runner-up AS Roma, Bordeaux and CFR 1907 Cluj of Romania.
Cluj, incidentally, is one of four teams that will be making their Champions League debuts, the others being Russia's Zenit St Petersburg, winner of last season's UEFA Cup; FC Bate Borisov of Belarus, and Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus.
