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Manchester
City Manager Pep Guardiola looks out before the match against Stoke City during
their English Premier League soccer match at The Bet365 Stadium,
Stoke-on-Trent, England, Saturday Aug. 20, 2016. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)
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Manchester City's new
coach Pep Guardiola will be heading back to Barcelona after the Premier League
club was pitted against his former team in the Champions League draw on
Thursday.
Associated
Press report continues:
Guardiola,
who also spent most of his playing career at the Catalan club, steered
Barcelona to two Champions League titles as well as a number of other trophies
during his time as coach from 2008-12.
The
two teams play each other on Oct. 19 in Barcelona and Nov. 1 in Manchester.
Borussia
Moenchengladbach and Celtic complete Group C.
Cristiano
Ronaldo also returns to his first club as holder Real Madrid has been drawn
against Sporting Lisbon. Borussia Dortmund and Legia Warsaw are also in Group
F.
Surprise
Premier League champion Leicester faces Porto, Brugge and FC Copenhagen in its
first time in Europe's premier competition.
The
eight four-team groups begin play on Sept. 13-14.
___
Group
A:
Paris
Saint-Germain and Arsenal will be favorites to progress but Basel boasts a
fearsome record against English clubs in European competition.
Neither
team has ever won the European Cup but PSG reached the quarterfinals in the
last four seasons. However, it is now without Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic,
who moved to Manchester United in the offseason.
Arsenal
was eliminated in the round of 16 in the last six seasons.
Since
2011, Basel has helped eliminate Manchester United and Liverpool from the
Champions League, as well as knocking Tottenham out of the Europa League.
Ludogorets
is playing in the group stages for only the second time in the Bulgarian club's
history, having reached the same stage two years ago.
___
Group
B:
Napoli
will be hoping for better luck than the last time they reached the group
stages.
In
2013/14, Napoli became the first — and so far only — team to fail to progress
after picking up 12 points, losing out to Dortmund and Arsenal in a three-way
head-to-head.
It
should have an easier time this campaign, as it has been pitted against
Benfica, Dynamo Kiev and Besiktas.
___
Group
C:
While
Guardiola will be highly familiar with Barcelona, many of City's players will
also know the Catalan club well.
Barcelona
beat City at the last-16 stage in 2014 and 2015, while goalkeeper Claudio Bravo
has just completed a move from the Spanish champion to Guardiola's new side.
"It's
good for Pep because he knows Borussia very well from his time at Bayern and
Barcelona as well so we will see," City's Director of Football Txiki
Begiristain said.
"He
had been back to Barca before with Bayern Munich so it's not the first time
he's been returned to the Camp Nou. Barcelona will start as favorites for the
group but that is nothing new, they are a fantastic side."
City
also played Moenchengladbach in the group stage last year en route to the
semifinals.
Celtic
will be hoping for a repeat of the 2012-13 season when it managed a shock 2-1
home win over Barcelona 2-1 in the group stage.
___
Group
D:
Bayern
Munich will be out for revenge when it faces Atletico Madrid after losing to the
Spanish side on away goals in last season's semifinals.
In
May, Atletico lost the final on penalties to Real Madrid — finishing runner-up
to its bitter rival for the second time in three years.
Contrasting
sides in PSV Eindhoven and Rostov make up the group.
PSV
has played regularly in European competition since the 1970s, while it is
Russian side Rostov's maiden appearance in the European Cup.
___
Group
E:
A
group where anyone could win it or finish bottom.
None
of the teams have ever won the competition although Leverkusen and Monaco have
both reached the final — in 2002 and 2004 respectively.
Tottenham
last played in the Champions League in 2010-11, reaching the quarterfinals,
while CSKA Moscow made a group stage exit in 2013-14.
___
Group
F:
Matches
between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are swift becoming classics.
Madrid
beat Dortmund in the quarterfinals in 2014, avenging its semifinal defeat the
previous campaign.
No
team has successfully defended the Champions League since its inception in 1992
but Madrid forward Gareth Bale hopes his side can become the first to do so,
with the final being staged in his home city of Cardiff.
"It
would be amazing to experience a Champions League final in Cardiff," Bale
said. "It is obviously a difficult group but it always is in the Champions
League. We fancy our chances to get through but we know there are going to be
some difficult games."
Meanwhile,
as well as providing a former player in Ronaldo, Sporting had more players than
any other club in Portugal's Euro 2016-winning squad — Rui Patrício, Joao
Mario, William Carvalho and Adrien Silva.
Legia
Warsaw completes the group, becoming Poland's first team in the Champions
League proper in 20 years.
___
Group
G:
Apart
from two-time winner Porto, Group G is devoid of Champions League pedigree.
Leicester,
which was in the third tier of English football in 2009, is making its debut in
the competition.
Copenhagen
reached the last 16 in 2010/11, one of only four previous times it has made it
into the Champions League proper, while Brugge has also had only sporadic
appearances in the group stages.
___
Group
H:
Juventus
and Sevilla face each other in the group stages for the second successive
season.
Juventus
beat Sevilla 2-0 at home but lost 1-0 in Spain, which meant it finished second
in the group and faced Bayern Munich in the last 16 rather than Dinamo Kiev.
The Turin side lost after extra time in the second leg in Germany.
"We
missed an opportunity at Sevilla last year," Juventus coach Massimiliano
Allegri wrote on Twitter. "It will be a red-hot atmosphere in Lyon and
Zagreb: we need to be focused, we know our aim."
Sevilla
was eliminated from the Champions League and went on to win the Europa League
for the third season in a row.
Lyon completes the group along with Dinamo Zagreb, which established one of the worst records in a group stage campaign, having lost all six games with a goal difference of minus 19 in 2011.
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