Thursday's Champions League draw was characterized by familiarity as Bayern Munich and Manchester City were placed together for the second consecutive season.
Bayern and City finished atop Group D last term by finishing on 15 points apiece, and they will have the chance to repeat the feat in 2014 as they were drawn together in Group E for the group stage of the 2014-15 tournament.
Joining the Bayern and City in the group will be CSKA Moscow, which was also drawn against the duo last season, and Italian giants AS Roma, making Group E the leading candidate for the 'Group of Death' moniker.
Arsenal was also drawn against a familiar opponent as the Gunners were placed in Group D alongside Borussia Dortmund, a club the English side faced in group stage in the 2013-14 and 2011-12 campaigns. Galatasaray and Anderlecht will join the English and German clubs in Group D, setting up a potentially tricky journey to the knockout round.
Chelsea will face Schalke in the group stage for the second consecutive year. The two clubs faced one another in Group E last term and were drawn together once again, getting placed in Group G along with Sporting Lisbon and Maribor.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will also see a couple of familiar sights during the group stage. The Swedish striker's PSG side was placed alongside two of his former clubs, pitting the French champions against Barcelona and Ajax in Group F. APOEL, which shockingly managed to reach the quarterfinals in 2012, rounds out the group.
Liverpool, making its first appearance in the Champions League group stage since the 2009-10 season, was handed a manageable draw in Group B despite being placed alongside reigning champions Real Madrid. The Reds will also have to get past FC Basel and Ludogorets in order to reach the knockout round for the first time since 2009 when they were ousted by Chelsea in the quarterfinals.
Atletico Madrid, last season's runner-up, enjoyed a generous draw as the club was placed in Group A alongside Juventus, Olympiakos and Malmo while Group C remains wide open with Benfica, Zenit, Bayer Leverkusen and AS Monaco all fancying their chances of advancing to the knockout round.
Group H rounds out the draw with FC Porto facing Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao and BATE Borisov.
The full draw is below:
GROUP A:
Atletico Madrid Juventus Olympiakos Malmo
GROUP B:
Real Madrid FC Basel Liverpool Ludogorets
GROUP C:
Benfica Zenit Bayer Leverkusen AS Monaco
GROUP D:
Arsenal Borussia Dortmund Galatasaray Anderlecht
GROUP E:
Bayern Munich Manchester City CSKA Moscow AS Roma
GROUP F:
Barcelona PSG Ajax APOEL
GROUP G:
Chelsea Schalke Sporting Lisbon Maribor
GROUP H:
FC Porto Shakhtar Donetsk Athletic Bilbao BATE Borisov
[SportsNetwork.com]
