European champions Barcelona drew Inter, moneybags Real Madrid pulled AC Milan, while Manchester United will take on German surprise package Wolfsburg after the Champions League group stage draw was made on Thursday.
This season sees nine former champions go into action in the 32-team format split into eight groups of four, while the quartets of teams from England and Spain will battle for an historic 13th triumph, both countries having polished off a round dozen to date.
Group A pits four-time champions Bayern Munich against two-time winners Juventus, French champions Bordeaux and Maccabi Haifa of Israel.
In Group B, Manchester United, European champions in 1968, 1999 and 2007 and beaten finalists last season, will go up against German champions Wolfsburg, Turkey’s Besiktas and CSKA Moscow.
“These are difficult ties, especially the trips to Russia and Turkey,” United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said.
Former United star Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid will have to joust with seven-time champions AC Milan in Group C, meaning an early return to the San Siro for Brazilian Kaka.
Marseille, the only French side ever to lift the trophy, and outsiders FC Zurich of Switzerland complete the group.
Chelsea, bidding for a first crown under former AC Milan handler Carlo Ancelotti, are seeded in Group D where they meet two-time champions Porto, Atletico Madrid and Cypriots APOEL Nicosia.
“We are always looking to go one step further in Europe,” Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon said. “There is not too much travel and we managed to avoid one of the bigger teams.”
Liverpool, who humiliated Real last season, will play in Group E along with French side Lyon, who have never been past the quarters, Fiorentina of Italy and Debrecen of Hungary.
“In the Champions League there will always be difficult games and tough teams to play against,” Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez said. “Lyon might not have won the league last season, but before that they won it many years in a row, so we know they have lots of good players who can play good football.”
Holders Barcelona will play in Group F along with Italian champions Inter, who won the last of their two European crowns in 1965 and are coached by former Barca assistant and former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.
Those encounters also mean a swift return to the Nou Camp for Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o, who twice lifted the Cup with the Catalan club.
Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who went the other way, will likewise get to renew old acquaintances back at the San Siro.
Dynamo Kiev and Russian champions Kazan complete the group.
Seville of Spain will compete in Group G alongside Glasgow Rangers, Germany’s VfB Stuttgart and Romania’s Unirea Urziceni.
Arsenal were drawn in Group H with AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands, Greek side Olympiakos and Belgium’s Standard Liege.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
RSS