UEFA Champions League Draw | Pep goes up against Barcelona; Arsenal draw three league champions
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Manchester City's new manager Pep Guardiola will face his former club Barcelona in Group C, which also contains Borussia Mönchengladbach and Celtic. Arsenal have also been drawn into a tough group with PSG, Swiss Super League champions Basel, and Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad.
Group C has turned out to be the group of death after the Champions League group stage draw was held on Thursday. Apart from Barcelona and Manchester City, it has German club Borussia Mönchengladbach, who finished fourth last season in the Bundesliga, and Celtic, who ran away with the Scottish league last season. It will be intriguing to see Pep Guardiola battle his old club, although both Man City and Barcelona still remain the favorites to qualify from this group.
The draw also saw Arsenal drawn alongside French champions PSG in Group A along with Swiss champions Basel and Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad. The Gunners have been off to shaky start this season, and unless something changes drastically, they might struggle to qualify for the knockout stage for the first time under Arsene Wenger.
Unlike Man City and Arsenal, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur have had a relatively easy draw. Leicester will face FC Porto, Club Brugge, and FC Copenhagen in Group G, while Tottenham
Defending champions Real Madrid have been drawn alongside Borussia Dortmund, but both the clubs have relatively easy task of beating Sporting CP and Legia Warsaw to the two qualifying spots in Group F. Similarly, Bayern Munich's biggest challenge in Group D will arrive from Atletico de Madrid, but they should be able to beat PSV and FC Rostov with relative ease.
Here is the full draw:
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