UEFA Champions League draw: Arsenal, Manchester City get tough groups

Two English clubs were handed difficult assignments in a UEFA Champions League group stage draw that was full of déjà vu.

Reigning Premier League champion Manchester City was drawn with five-time European Cup winner Bayern Munich for the second year in a row, in what is likely to be the toughest of the eight groups. They'll be joined by AS Roma and CSKA Moscow.

Arsenal will face Germany's Borussia Dortmund for the third time in four seasons. Their itinerary also incudes trips to Istanbul and Brussels, to face Galatasaray and Anderlecht, respectively.

Liverpool was given a glamorous matchup with reigning Champions League winner Real Madrid. But the other two opponents, Swizterland's FC Basel and Bulgaria's PFC Ludogorets, likely won't cause too much trouble.

Madrid and Liverpool provide almost half of the 36 European Cup and Champions League titles shared among 10 former winners in the draw.

Real won the title for the 10th time this past May, when they beat Atlético Madrid in Lisbon in May. Their history against Liverpool is not so favorable - no wins and no goals scored in three all-time games. Liverpool won 5-0 on aggregate in the 2009 round of 16, and won the 1981 European Cup final in Paris by a 1-0 margin.

Chelsea, which in 2012 became the most recent English team to win the tournament, got a reasonably easy draw with Germany's Schalke 04, Portugal's Sporting Lisbon and Slovenia's NK Maribor.

Outside of England, many fans will tune in to the group containing Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Ajax and APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus. Though the last of those teams isn't much, the first two are loaded with attacking stars. And it will be a reunion tour for PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimović, who used to play for Barcelona and Ajax.

Chelsea-Schalke and Barcelona-Ajax were also group stage matchups last season.

Atletico Madrid, last season's runner-up, was grouped with Juventus, Olympiakos and Malmö.

Malmö, of Sweden, was the European Cup runner-up in 1979 as a semi-professional club. They are one of two newcomers to the Champions League group stage, along with PFC Ludogorets of Bulgaria.

Ludogorets had a fairy tale run in its qualifying playoff. The team got a 90th-minute equalizer in the second leg against Steaua Bucharest, and with its goalkeeper sent off, defender Cosmin Moti saved two penalties in the shootout.

The toughest group to predict could be the one with Portugal's Benfica, Russia's Zenit St. Petersburg, Germany's Bayer Leverkusen and France's AS Monaco.

One group spans almost the entire width of Europe, with teams from Portugal, Ukraine, Spain and Belarus: FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao and BATE Borisov, respectively.

Group stage play begins on September 16. Each of the 32 teams will share nearly $1.34 billion in prize money. UEFA pays $11.5 million fee for entering the group, plus $1.34 million per win and $670,000 per draw. Teams also get a share of television rights money.

The top two teams in each group advance to knockout round, with the final set for Berlin's Olympic Stadium on June 6.

Group A: Atlético Madrid (Spain), Juventus (Italy), Olympiakos Piraeus (Greece), Malmö FF (Sweden)

Group B: Real Madrid (Spain), FC Basel (Switzerland), Liverpool (England), PFC Ludogorets (Bulgaria)

Group C: Benfica (Portugal), Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), AS Monaco (France)

Group D: Arsenal (England), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Galatasaray (Turkey), Anderlecht (Belgium)

Group E: Bayern Munich (Germany), Manchester City (England), CSKA Moscow (Russia), AS Roma (Italy)

Group F: Barcelona (Spain), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands), APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus)

Group G: Chelsea (England), Schalke 04 (Germany), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), NK Maribor (Slovenia)

Group H: FC Porto (Portugal), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Athletic Bilbao (Spain), BATE Borisov (Belarus)

This article contains information from the Associated Press and Reuters.