Ronaldo set for Old Trafford return in Juve CL campaign
MONACO — Cristiano Ronaldo can look forward to a return to Old Trafford in the Champions League this season after Juventus came out in the same group as Manchester United in Thursday’s draw in Monaco.
Ronaldo, who did not attend the ceremony despite being nominated for an individual award, spent six years at United before moving to Real Madrid in 2009 and then moving on to Juventus this summer.
He will come up against Portuguese compatriot Jose Mourinho, under whom he played at Real, while United midfielder Paul Pogba can also look forward to facing his old team. United hosts Juventus on Oct 23 before going to Turin on Nov 7.
While those sides will be favorites to progress to the last 16 from Group H, they will have to be wary of Valencia, with the Spanish club returning to the group stage for the first time in three years.
Swiss champion Young Boys, group-stage debutants, look to be the makeweights in the section, and host United on the opening match day on Sept 19.
“It’s a manageable group, but it all depends on us. Our destiny is in our own hands,” said Juve CEO Giuseppe Marotta.
Thursday’s draw at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum threw up several other fascinating groups, with last season’s beaten finalist Liverpool set to have its work cut out alongside Neymar’s Paris Saint-Germain, as well as Napoli, managed by Carlo Ancelotti, in Group C.
A meeting between Liverpool and PSG means a confrontation between two German coaches, Jurgen Klopp and his successor at Borussia Dortmund, Thomas Tuchel.
“I expected a difficult group, we have a difficult group and that’s what the Champions League is all about,” Klopp told UEFA, with Liverpool hosting PSG in their first game on Sept 18.
Ancelotti, who was surprisingly appointed Napoli boss in the offseason, will return to the French capital, where he led PSG to the title in 2013. That group is completed by a famous old name in 1991 European Cup winner Red Star Belgrade.
Holder Madrid begins its bid to win a fourth consecutive Champions League crown in a kind-looking Group G, featuring Roma, CSKA Moscow and Czech side Viktoria Plzen.
“We want to defend our title for one more year,” Real legend Emilio Butragueno, now the club’s director of institutional relations, told Spanish television.
In contrast, Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur face each other in a testing Group B along with Inter Milan and PSV Eindhoven, the 1988 European Cup winner.
Inter is returning to the competition for the first time in seven seasons. It was in the same group as Tottenham in 2010-11, with the Italians memorably winning 4-3 at San Siro despite Gareth Bale scoring a hat-trick.
“You want to test yourselves against the best players in the world, but we don’t want to just test ourselves, we want to compete against them. That’s definitely the case with Barcelona,” Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier told his club’s website.
The draw looks kind to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City as it looks to win the trophy for the first time.
City will face group-stage debutants Hoffenheim as well as Lyon and Shakhtar Donetsk, coming up against the latter for the second year running.
The draw was also kind on Bayern Munich, although the German champion will meet two historied European names in Benfica and Ajax. But it was less so for another Bundesliga club, with Borussia Dortmund coming up against Monaco and Atletico Madrid in Group A, along with Club Brugge.
Europa League champion Atletico, a three-time CL finalist, is hoping to go all the way, with the final to be played at its own Wanda Metropolitano stadium on June 1 next year.
Changes brought in for this season mean half of the places in the group stage were allocated to the top four sides in the four best-ranked leagues: Spain, England, Germany and Italy.
It is becoming ever harder for clubs from elsewhere to compete, but there will be some variety in the knockout rounds, with Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto and Galatasaray joining Bundesliga side Schalke in the hunt for last-16 spots in Group D.
Group E: Bayern Munich (GER), Benfica (POR), Ajax (NED), AEK Athens (GRE)
Group F: Manchester City (ENG), Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR), Lyon (FRA), Hoffenheim (GER)
Group G: Real Madrid (ESP), Roma (ITA), CSKA Moscow (RUS), Viktoria Plzen (CZE)
Group H: Juventus (ITA), Manchester United (ENG), Valencia (SPN), Young Boys (SWI)
• First round of matches on September 18/19