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Coming back with a bang

The draw for the group stages of the Uefa Champions League was conducted at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, France on Thursday evening and as a Liverpool fan it was exciting to see my team back in the hat after a five-year exile. After winning the title five times, it should be safe to say that this is where they belong and one hopes that what has happened in recent years was merely a blip.

And the draw itself was not the worst, either, for the Reds. When you return to the big time you do not want to face nonentities and teams do not come any bigger than record 10-time winners and current champions Real Madrid. The two fixtures will be among the most followed when the group games start next month and the hope is that both will come out of the group.

For Real Madrid, this is also an important draw because Los Broncos have never beaten the Reds in European competitions. Indeed, the last time the two teams faced each other in the Champions League in 2009, Liverpool silenced the Bernabeu through Yossi Benayoun’s header before Liverpool run riot at Anfield with an emphatic 4-0 victory. This is a record Carlo Ancelotti’s men may wish to set straight.

In highlighting the two teams, there is no underrating the other teams in the group. FC Basel are not a small team and the last time they met Liverpool in the qualifying round, the Reds only went through on away goals’ rule after the two sides were tied at 4-4. The first leg in Switzerland was a one-all draw and Liverpool had to come back from3-0 down to level the home leg. So it will be tough.

The fourth team in the group is even more dangerous because it is an unknown entity having been around for a short time. PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, who are reigning champions of Bulgaria, were only formed in 2001 and have risen through the tiers over the years to become champions. They reached the last 16 in last year’s Uefa Europa League and sensationally made the Champions League group stages last Wednesday.

But the Champions League is not only about Group B. The proverbial group of death should be Group E where deposed champions Bayern Munich find themselves with Manchester City again as they battle with AS Roma and CSKA Moscow for the right to get to the last 16. Group F that features Barcelona, Paris St Germain, Ajax and Apoel Nicosia is another group worth special attention.

The Arsenal renew their romance with Borussia Dortmund in Group D where they will also face Galatasaray and Anderlecht. The English side with the easiest draw is Chelsea who are in Group G together with Schalke 04, Sporting Lisbon and Maribor.

Conspicuously missing from the line-up are Manchester United who have made a disastrous start to the season. It was already known that they would not be in the Champions League after their seventh-place finish last season, but not many expected them to be out the Capital One Cup before other giants had even joined. Now people know that there is a team called MK Dons.

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