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Champions League: PSG-Real Madrid, Bayern-Arsenal in same groups
The first leg on the road to Milan is set.
The 2015-16 UEFA Champions League draw was conducted in Monaco Thursday, with Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain being grouped together, while Arsenal found itself locked up with Bayern Munich again, albeit in the group phase and not the knockout round as has been the case in past seasons.
Group D appears to be the most difficult of them all, though, with Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla and Borussia Monchengladbach all drawn together. Monchengladbach features U.S. men's national team fullback Fabian Johnson.
Defending champion Barcelona won't have an easy path to the knockout stage, being grouped with Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and Belarusian club BATE Borisov.
Other items of note include Zlatan Ibrahimovic being paired with his hometown club, Sweden's Malmo; Memphis Depay will face his former team as his Manchester United is grouped with PSV Eindhoven; Jose Mourinho will coach against one of his former teams, as Chelsea is paired with Porto.
The knockout stage commences September 15, and the final will be played May 28, 2016 at Milan's San Siro.
Here are the eight groups for this season's UEFA Champions League:
GROUP A | GROUP B | GROUP C | GROUP D |
|---|---|---|---|
Paris Saint-Germain | PSV Eindhoven | Benfica | Juventus |
Real Madrid | Manchester United | Atletico Madrid | Manchester City |
Shakhtar Donetsk | CSKA Moscow | Galatasaray | Sevilla |
Malmo | Wolfsburg | Astana | B. Monchengladbach |
GROUP E | GROUP F | GROUP G | GROUP H |
|---|---|---|---|
Barcelona | Bayern Munich | Chelsea | Zenit St. Petersburg |
Bayer Leverkusen | Arsenal | Porto | Valencia |
Roma | Olympiakos | Dynamo Kiev | Lyon |
BATE Borisov | Dinamo Zagreb | Maccabi Tel Aviv | Gent |
GALLERY: 2015-16 UEFA Champions League field
2015-16 UEFA Champions League Teams
Arsenal (England)
Pot 2
Astana (Kazakhstan)
Pot 4
Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Pot 2
Barcelona (Spain)
Pot 1
BATE Borisov (Belarus)
Pot 4
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)
Pot 2
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Pot 1
Benfica (Portugal)
Pot 1
Borussia Moenchengladbach (Germany)
Pot 4
Chelsea (England)
Pot 1
CSKA Moscow (Russia)
Pot 3
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Pot 4
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
Pot 3
Galatasaray (Turkey)
Pot 3
Gent (Belgium)
Pot 4
Juventus (Italy)
Pot 1
Lyon (France)
Pot 3
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Pot 4
Malmo (Sweden)
Pot 4
Manchester City (England)
Pot 2
Manchester United (England)
Pot 2
Olympiakos (Greece)
Pot 3
Paris Saint-Germain (France)
Pot 1
Porto (Portugal)
Pot 2
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Pot 1
Real Madrid (Spain)
Pot 2
Roma (Italy)
Pot 3
Sevilla (Spain)
Pot 3
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
Pot 3
Valencia (Spain)
Pot 2
Wolfsburg (Germany)
Pot 4
Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russia)
Pot 1
