The group stages for the Champions League and Europa League were drawn last week, creating some very intriguing fixtures to look out for this season.
Starting with the Champions League, the English clubs certainly don’t have an easy task. Man City have once again been placed with Barcelona, which will see Pep Guardiola return to his immensely talented Barcelona tie. Monchengladbach and Scottish champions Celtic will also be tough tests for this new look City side. Arsenal meanwhile face an extremely tricky challenge of overcoming PSG, Basel and Ludogorets. English champions Leicester also have a difficult journey as they come up against Porto, Club Brugge and Copenhagen. Spurs will similarly feel the heat in a group comprising CSKA Moscow, Monaco and Leverkusen, although home games at Wembley will undeniably help their cause.
Other huge ties to look out for include last years winners Real Madrid against Dortmund, Bayern and Atletico Madrid, and Juventus who will compete against Europa League victors Sevilla.
In the Europa League, Manchester United face Fenerbache, Feyenoord and Zorya of Ukraine. The draw sees Robin van Persie return to two of his former clubs in United and Feyenoord, where the latter won the UEFA Cup with RVP leading the line in 2002. Southampton meanwhile have a very challenging start to their debut Europa League season with ties against Inter Milan, Sparta Prague and Israeli champions Hapoel Beer Sheeva. The heroics of Ireland’s Dundalk have landed them incredibly difficult yet fantastic trips to Zenit, AZ Alkmaar and Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
Week one of the Champions League kicks off on Tuesday 13 September, with Barcelona v Celtic and PSG v Arsenal the pick of ties. The Europa League begins on Thursday 15 September, where United start off their campaign away to Feyenoord.
