The Champions League draw for 2017/18 has been held in Monaco with a balanced result for the Spanish teams. Some old acquaintances will commence hostilities with the hope of progressing beyond the group stage.
Real Madrid will play Borussia Dortmund again, a classic of the last few seasons (four duels in the last five editions). Tottenham (where Bale and Modric came from) and Apoel are the other two rivals in the group. The English and German teams can fight the current champion but the Cypriots are the Cinderella side.
Barcelona will return to Turin, where they lost in the semi-finals last season. The Catalans will likely contest first place with Juventus, given that the other two rivals are Olympiacos and Sporting Portugal, the latter where Mathieu and Coentrao are loaned.
Sevilla were lucky to be drawn against one of the less potent seeds, Spartak Moscow, but it will be tough against Liverpool, one of the strongest teams in pot three. Maribor make up the numbers.
Atletico Madrid will play the Chelsea of Conte and Morata, and the Roma of Monchi. The fourth team in the group is debutant Qarabag of Azerbaijan, meaning a very long journey for Simeone and his team.
Group A has paired Benfica with Manchester United, Basel and CSKA Moscow. The English team start as clear favourites.
Group B will have one of the great duels of this group stage, PSG-Bayern. Anderlecht and Celtic will battle it out for third place in the group.
An open group with Manchester City as favourite, but with Shakhtar, Napoli and Feyenoord aspiring to take them all the way.
Monaco, Porto, Besikas and Leizpig. A very open group.
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