UEFA: Champions League and Europa League draw.

On Thursday evening and Friday morning in Monaco, the UEFA made the groups stage draw for the Champions League and Europa League.

UEFA certainly know how to make a tournament draw to drag, maybe not quite to the levels achieved by FIFA, but they put on their fair share of rubbish before actually picking the balls out of the hat.

Once all the pointless ceremony was over with, they actually put together quite a juicy looking draw, with a number of the groups throwing up some very attractive ties for all involved.

There was a fear of the 'Group of Death' among many supporters and while there wasn't one that stood out head and shoulders above the rest, Arsenal will probably feel their draw could have been better after drawing Borussia Dortmund, Olympique Marseille and Napoli.

Meanwhile, Barcelona have a more than tricky set of matches; being pitted agains what seem to be their annual opponents in AC Milan, Dutch champions Ajax and the team that beat them at the same stage last season in Celtic.

In the other hand, the draw for group stages of the Europa League has taken place and thrown up some tough ties for some of the English clubs.


The Europa League group stage draw has taken place in Monaco and has thrown up some interesting ties for some of the English clubs.

League Cup winners Swansea City have been drawn in the same group as Spanish giants Valencia.

The Welsh side will also take on Kuban Krasnodar of Russia and St Gallen of Switzerland in Group A.

Tottenham, who will be one of the favourites for the competition, have been drawn with Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala, who recently sold play-maker Willian and striker Samuel Eto’o to Chelsea.

Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova and Tromso of Norway make up the rest of Group K.

FA Cup winners Wigan Athletic have been drawn in Group D alongside Rubin Kazan, Maribor of Slovenia and Zulte Waregem of Belgium.

Other interesting groups include Group B, where Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven will meet Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb while in Group I French side Lyon will meet Spanish club Real Betis.