Tough group for Barca
> Barcelona face Leverkusen, United star Memphis faces former club PSV
HOLDERS Barcelona are drawn against Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen, Serie A side Roma and BATE Borisov of Belarus in the group stage of football’s Champions League.
Arsenal meet five-times champions Bayern Munich, who knocked them out in the round of 16 in 2012/13 and 2013/14, in Group F along with Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos Piraeus.
Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho will face the club where he made his name and Paris St Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic the team where he began his career following the Champions League group stage draw yesterday.
Chelsea were drawn in Group G with Porto, the team Mourinho led to the Champions League title in 2004 in the days before he became known as the Special One, Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Ibrahimovic and PSG, meanwhile, were drawn in the same group as spanish giant Real Madrid, together with Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk and Sweden’s Malmo.
Memphis Depay will face his former club when Manchester United were drawn with top-seeded Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, together with Russia’s CSKA Moscow and Bundesliga runners-up Wolfsburg, who is still facing the uncertain future of their starlet Kevin De Bruyne (pix).
Juventus, last season’s losing finalists, face Premier League champions Manchester City, Europa League champions Sevilla and Germany’s Borussia Moenchengladbach in what we can see is the toughest of the eight groups.
Atletico Madrid meet Benfica in a group also featuring Turkey’s Galatasaray and Kazhak champions Astana.
Valencia, one of five Spanish sides in the draw, are in a group with Zenit St Petersburg, Olympique Lyon and Belgium’s Gent.
The group stage begins on September 15 and 16 and continues to December 8 and 9.
The final will be held in Milan on May 28. – dpa