Champions League holders Real Madrid will face former European champions Liverpool, FC Basle and debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria following the group stage draw on Thursday.
The eagerly-awaited event, held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, had a distinct air of deja vu about it.
Bayern Munich and Manchester City were drawn in the same group for the second successive season, as were Chelsea and Schalke 04, and Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund.
Barcelona and Paris St Germain, both clubs with strong links to Qatar, will also face each other in a mouthwatering clash.
Real won the title for a record-extending 10th time when they beat Atletico Madrid 4-1 after extra time in Lisbon in May and have the chance to avenge a 5-0 aggregate defeat by five-time champions Liverpool in the last 16 in 2009 when they lost 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu and 4-0 at Anfield.
Further back in time Liverpool beat Real 1-0 in the 1981 European Cup final in Paris.
Real will open the defence of their crown when they host Basle in a Group B match on September 16 and will visit the minnows of Ludogorets on October 1. They face Liverpool at Anfield on October 22 with the return leg in Madrid on November4.
“We know it’s going to be very tough,” said Cristiano Ronaldo of the Liverpool tie. “In general the group is nice, it’s good for Real Madrid.
“We are going to try and do the same again this season. We’re going to try to win the Champions League. It will be difficult but Real Madrid are always thinking big, thinking huge.”
The competition gets underway on September 16 with this season’s final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on June 6.
Group A: Atletico Madrid (Spain) Juventus (Italy) Olympiakos Piraeus (Greece) Malmo (Sweden)
Group B: Real Madrid (Spain) Basel (Switzerland) Liverpool (England) Ludogorets (Bulgaria)
Group C: Benfica (Portugal) Zenit St Petersburg (Russia) Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) Monaco (France)
Group D: Arsenal (England) Borussia Dortmund (Germany) Galatasaray (Turkey) Anderlecht (Belgium)
Group E: Bayern Munich (Germany) Manchester City (England) CSKA Moscow (Russia) AS Roma (Italy) Group F Barcelona (Spain) Paris St Germain (France) Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands) APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus)
Group G: Chelsea (England) Schalke 04 (Germany) Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) Maribor (Slovenia)
Group H: Porto (Portugal) Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) Athletic Bilbao (Spain) BATE Borisov (Belarus)
Source: SuperSport
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