UCL Draw: Again Man City Get Bayern, Barca Meet Ajax, Liverpool Test Real

The draw for the 2014/15 Uefa Champions League took place at the Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, on Thursday, with 32 teams drawn into eight groups of four.

Each team in one of four pots were drawn in a format which barred them from playing another side from the same country.

It panned into eight group of four teams each consisting of one team from each pot.

Barcelona met Ajax for the first time in their history in the group stages last season, and face a repeat of that tie in the forthcoming campaign after been pitted against the Dutch champions in Group F, along with the big-spending Paris St-Germain and Apoel Nicossa.

Liverpool, who are returning to Europe after five-year hiatus will lock horns with Santiago Bernebeu outfits Real Madrid. The ‘Reds’ have not conceded in three of their European Cup/Champions League games against Real Madrid and have won all encounters, scoring six times.

Dutch Champions Ajax  beat Barcelona 2-1 In Amsterdam Last Season.
Dutch Champions Ajax beat Barcelona 2-1 In Amsterdam Last Season.

Jose Mourinho, once again is the happiest of all English Premier League club managers in the competition this season, as Chelsea face the third-placed team in the Bundesliga last season, Schalke (Germany), Primeira Division runners-up Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) and Slovenian champions Maribor, who knocked Celtic out in the play-off round.

Arsenal will face German giants Borussia Dortmund for the fourth time in as many as five seasons.

Champions League draw

Group A

Atletico Madrid

Juventus

Olympiakos

Malmo

Group B

Real Madrid

Basel

Liverpool

Ludogorets Razgrad.

Group C

Benfica

Zenit St Petersburg

Bayer Leverkusen

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

Sporting Lisbon

Maribor

Group H

Porto

Shakhtar Donetsk

Athletic Bilbao

BATE Borisov.