Manchester City draw Real Madrid in Champions League
Last updated on .From the section Football

Premier League holders Manchester City will play nine-times European champions Real Madrid in their opening game of the Champions League.
Roberto Mancini's team will also face Ajax and Borussia Dortmund.
Champions League holders Chelsea begin their defence against Serie A champions Juventus, while Celtic have been drawn with Barcelona in Group G.
Manchester United face Galatasaray, Braga and FC Cluj while Arsenal have Schalke, Olympiakos and Montpellier.
Chelsea, who beat Bayern Munich on penalties in the final last season, also come up against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk and Denmark's FC Nordsjaelland, who they face at Stamford Bridge in their last game.
As well as Barcelona, Celtic face trips to Benfica and Spartak Moscow but all eyes will be on their two games against the 2011 Champions League winners.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men open their campaign at home to Turkish giants Galatasaray, before rounding off the group stages at Old Trafford against Romanian side CFR Cluj.
All of the teams lining up against Manchester City, who play Borussia Dortmund in their final game, are national champions of their respective leagues. City's task was made harder because their Uefa co-efficient - determined by their recent record in European competition - is not as high as their English rivals.
Their clash with Real Madrid means former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho will enjoy another return to England, while Arsenal come up against Montpellier, former employers of new Gunners striker Olivier Giroud.
Arsene Wenger's side travel to France in their first game, and finish with a trip to Greece to face Olympiakos.
Former Real Madrid forward Emilio Butragueno said that although his team and City might be viewed as favourites to qualify for the knockout stages, every game would be challenging.
"From a spectator point of view this group is very attractive and we will watch great matches and players with great prestige," he said. "But it will be tough and it will be like a final each time so we have to be prepared."
Celtic manager Neil Lennon said the draw with Barcelona would be a test for his team, but would add a touch of "real glamour" to their European campaign.
"We are familiar with the three teams, and have recent history with all three under [former manager] Gordon Strachan," Lennon said. "It's a tough, tough group but all the teams play good football, so they will be attractive games to watch."
The group stages run from 18 and 19 September through to 4 and 5 December.
Meanwhile, Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta has been named Uefa's Best Player in Europe for last season, beating competition from team-mate Lionel Messi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo. The Spaniard was also named Player of the Tournament at Euro 2012.
Champions League groups:
Group A: Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Paris St Germain, Dinamo Zagreb
Group B: Arsenal, Schalke, Olympiakos, Montpellier
Group C: AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga
Group D: Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund
Group E: Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, FC Nordsjaelland
Group F: Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, BATE Borisov
Group G: Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic
Group H: Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray, CFR Cluj
Full list of fixtures of every group game by date can be found here.
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Erm... you must have read a different comment to me, because nowhere did I say a team didn't deserve to win a trophy because they spend a lot of money. I never said there was an "issue."
The point I was making was that supporting Man City over Real Madrid purely because of big spending is silly, when Madrid are in a similar situation.
Barcelona and Real get 12.5x more tv money than the 20th placed team in La Liga whilst 1st in the EPL gets 1.5 times more than 20th. This fair distibution of money allows the EPL to send 4 teams capable of winning each year. The system is Spain is totally unfair, the rest of their teams simply make up the numbers and will never be able of closing the gap in La Liga or the CL
You do know that the pot works so the best teams are 1st seed and then the second best are 2nd seed etc..
And then each group has one team from each seed.
Therfore Man Utd (as 1st seeds) will always be the best team in the group. This is also the case for Chelsea and Arsenal. City are 2nd seed this year so they are the second best team in their group and last season they were 3rd seed.
2012-2011-Braga, Galatasary, Cluj
2011-2012-Benfica, Basel, Oțelul Galați
2010-2011-Valencia, Rangers, Bursapsor
2009-2010-Besiktas, Wolfsburg, CSKA
2008-2009-Celtic, Villereal, Aalborg
Chelsea just won the UCL and they get a much more difficult group. Throughout the history of the Champions L, United ALWAYS get easier groups. I'm looking forward to City and Chelsea's groups, not Utds
34 MINUTES AGO
number 33: Shut up and enjoy the football
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Thanks for that insightful, reasoned impute.
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I'm old enough to remember the great European Nights of the 70's and 80's, teams nearly exclusively British or Irish, back then virtually everyone got behind the English team and only the Champions got to play in the European cup.
Things are different now, hardly any British players in the teams and a devalued competition set up to benefit and protect the 'big' clubs.
And just to fill you in as you don't seem to know what you are talking about- Fergie ASKED Scholes to return.
Please, read what you're writing. It's the definition of bitter.
Can you please explain why United are the greatest club in th world?
They just need to do the same as you to be on the same level as you. Seeing as they won the league last season they are currently on a higher level than you.
1-Real Madrid
2-Dortmund
3-Citeh
3-Ajax
Dortmund play some of the best football in the world, and have alot of under-rated players (Who are world class). Juventus will finish top of their group, Chelsea 2nd. Man utd and Arsenal to both top their groups
Arsenal and Man United should both be relatively happy with their draw. Chelsea have a tougher group but still think they should come through it ok.
'Window lickers' is an extremely abusive term aimed towards people suffering mental illness and physical handicaps. Its not suitable for a football forum or any forum for that matter.
Try and keep your obsession of spouting hatred towards Manchester City and Roberto Mancini under control.
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