Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg and current league leaders CSKA have both been handed relatively comfortable draws for the group stage of the Champions League.
In a tough Group A, Champions League debutants ManchesterCity have been drawn against German giants Bayern Munich, Spanish outfit Villarreal, and experienced Italian club Napoli.
In Group B, CSKA join three-time winners Inter Milan, French champions Lille and Turkish runners-up, Trabzonspor, who replaced the banned Fenerbahce.
Last season’s finalists, Manchester United are in Group C, which is arguably the easiest along with Benfica, Basel and Romanian newcomers, Otelul Galati
Real Madrid, who’ve won the tournament a record nine times face competition from French side Lyon, Dutch champions Ajax, and Dinamo Zagreb from Croatia in Group D.
In the meantime, Chelsea were assigned to Group E with Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen and Belgian side Genk.
Arsenal, who qualified via their play-off victory over Udinese will face Marseille, Greek team Olympiakos and German champions, Borussia Dortmund in Group F.
Zenit are in Group G along with Portuguese side Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk from Ukraine and APOEL Nicosia from Cyprus.
Finally, four-time winners and current holders, Barcelona ere in Group H, along with seven-time European champions, AC Milan, Belarusian side BATE Borisov making their second appearance in the competition and group stage debutants, Viktoria Plzen, from the Czech Republic.