Champions League: In title defence, Barcelona has a favourable draw
Barcelona team (Source: Reuters)
Barcelona was handed a favorable start to its title defence with Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and BATE Borisov when the Champions League groups were drawn on Thursday. Lionel Messi scored five of his Champions League record 77 goals against Leverkusen when Barcelona won 7-1 in a last-16 match in 2012.
Real Madrid was placed in a tougher group with Shakhtar Donetsk and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s current and first clubs, Paris Saint-Germain and Malmo. Europe’s four highest-ranked leagues meet in the group of Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla and Borussia Moenchengladbach. Manchester United returns after a one-year absence against PSV Eindhoven — the lowest-ranked of the eight top-seeded clubs — plus CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg.
Chelsea was grouped with coach Jose Mourinho’s old club Porto, which he guided to the title in 2004 immediately before starting his first spell at Stamford Bridge. Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel Aviv complete the group. Mourinho aims to become the first coach to win Europe’s premier club title with three different clubs, after Porto and Inter Milan (2010).
Bayern Munich will again face Arsenal, which it eliminated at the last-16 stage in 2013 and 2014, plus Olympiakos and Dinamo Zagreb.The trip up to six time zones east to face newcomer Astana in Kazakhstan went to Benfica, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray.
With UEFA separating Russian and Ukrainian teams in the draw, top-seeded Zenit St. Petersburg was grouped with Valencia, Lyon and Gent.
The champion of Belgium is the second club making its debut at the elite level. The eight groups begin six rounds of play on Sept. 15. The top two in each group advance to the last-16 knockout round which begins in February.
Paris St Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will take on Malmo, the club where the Swede began his career.PSG will face Sweden’s Malmo, who have reached this stage for the second year in a row, Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk in Group A. “It will be great to have Zlatan here,” Malmo coach Age Hareide said. “It will be a party for the people. But we would have preferred a slightly weaker third team,” he said in reference to Shakhtar.
Messi best in Europe
Lionel Messi added another individual trophy to his collection Thursday, being voted UEFA’s Best Player in Europe for last season. The Barcelona star beat Luis Suarez, his teammate at the Champions League winner, and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in a Europe-wide poll of journalists.
Messi, the four-time FIFA world player of the year, got the UEFA honor after a season-long duel with Ronaldo for the Champions League scoring record. Both resume this season on 77 goals. Suarez, who scored the decisive second goal in the 3-1 final win over Juventus, reached the shortlist despite starting his season in late-October. The Uruguay forward served a FIFA ban for biting at the 2014 World Cup.
Launched in 2011, the UEFA award previously went to Messi, Andres Iniesta, Franck Ribery and Ronaldo.
