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Reigning kings of European football Bayern Munich will face CSKA Moscow, Manchester City and Czech team Viktoria Plzen in the defence of their Champions League title after the draw for the group stage in Monaco.
There is no obvious ‘group of death’ although, like every year, fans of certain clubs will be left feeling slightly more apprehensive than others. Group F for example puts together Arsenal, Marseille, last year’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund and Napoli in what appears on paper to be the most evenly balanced of the pools.
Clubs from the same countries were kept apart in the draw while the UEFA’s coefficient system of seeding clubs, which is based on their performances over the last five seasons, meant that some newly successful teams such as Manchester City were in the third of four seeded pots. Similarly Napoli were drawn from a pot of the lowest seeds.
Here is the draw in full:
Group A
Manchester United – Shakhtar Donetsk – Bayer Leverkusen – Real Sociedad### Group B
Real Madrid – Juventus – Galatasaray – FC Copenhagen### Group C
Benfica – Paris Saint Germain – Olympiakos – Anderlecht### Group D
Bayern Munich – CSKA Moscow – Manchester City – Viktoria Plzen### Group E
Chelsea – Schalke 04 – FC Basel – Steaua Bucharest### Group F
Arsenal – Marseille – Borussia Dortmund – Napoli### Group G
FC Porto – Athletico Madrid – Zenit St. Petersburg – Austria Vienna### Group H
FC Barcelona – AC Milan – Ajax – Celtic