FULL Champions League Draw: Liverpool Gets Real Madrid And More

Real Madrid, which won its record 10th Champions League title in May, was drawn into a group with England’s Liverpool, a five-time winner, for the group stage, which begins with matches on Sept. 16 and 17.

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Liverpool are back in the Champions League after a four-year absence despite faltering in the final furlong of the title race last season to finish second - and the draw offered them a nice welcome back to a competition they have had such an influence over, winning the European Cup five times.

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The Premier League champions might have hoped that a place in pot two would avoid a repeat of previous daunting draws at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. Instead, Manuel Pellegrini’s team were paired with the German champions, Bayern Munich, for the third time in four years, CSKA Moscow for the second successive season and the toughest available team in pot four, Roma. It means a return for City’s midfielder Yaya Touré to the Russian club where he was racially abused by the crowd last year.

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The champions, in the competition for the fourth straight year, have never been blessed with easy draws and Thursday was no different as they came out alongside Bayern Munich - as they were last season - as well as another former opponent CSKA Moscow. The fourth pot offered little comfort either as Italians AS Roma came out.

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There was also a challenging draw for Arsenal following their play-off victory over Besiktas on Wednesday, with Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray and Anderlecht the reward for their 17th successive season in the Champions League group stage.

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Arsenal went to the wire with a 1-0 win in the qualifier against Besiktas and have now been dealt a tough hand against another opponent from last season's competition, Borussia Dortmund, along with Galatasaray and Anderlecht.

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Chelsea, beaten semi-finalists last season, claimed arguably the easiest draw of the four English teams in the competition against Schalke, Sporting Lisbon and Maribor, the Slovenian team who knocked out Celtic in the qualifying stage.

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The usual noises about respecting every opponent will be made but you can imagine Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is secretly satisfied at a draw with Schalke, Sporting Lisbon and Celtic's conquerors Maribor. Mourinho begins his quest to make history by winning the Champions League with a third club after victories with Porto and Inter Milan. Chelsea lost to Atletico Madrid in the semi-final last season, but with additions such as Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas he will feel they can make another challenge.

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The draw was especially painful for Ajax Amsterdam, which was drawn into a so-called group of death for the third year in a row. Ajax will play Barcelona and Paris St.-Germain, though it will be able to commiserate about its bad fortune with Apoel of Cyprus, the fourth team in the group. P.S.G.'s star striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, previously played for both Barcelona and Ajax.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic's nomadic career has taken him around Europe and he will see some familiar faces after a draw that put Paris St-Germain in with Barcelona and Ajax, two clubs he has figured for in the past. It remains to be seen what sort of reception he receives - but one thing is certain - this larger than life personality and wonderfully-gifted striker has the sort of belief and confidence to feel he has merely been offered the chance to show his former clubs what they are missing.

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