Ronaldo turned down Real Madrid to stay with Manchester Utd

United, who beat Chelsea on penalties to lift the European Cup for the third time last May, were also drawn with Villarreal of Spain and Champions League debutants AaB Aalborg of Denmark in their opening matches in Group E.

Chelsea will face AS Roma of Italy, Girondins Bordeaux of France and Romanian debutants CFR Cluj in their opening games in Group A.

European giants Real Madrid and Juventus were drawn together in Group H along with UEFA Cup holders Zenit St Petersburg and BATE Borisov of Belarus, who are both playing in the competition for the first time.

The competition starts on Sept 16-17 with the final in Rome next May, and the full draw is listed below.

Ronaldo Footballer of the Year

Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo was named UEFA's European Club Footballer of the Year after scoring 42 goals last season including eight in the Champions League.

The award was made during the draw for this year's group phase at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

Ronaldo was also named as the forward of the year for helping United win the European Cup for the third time.

Three Chelsea players who were in the side beaten by United in the Moscow final in May, won awards.

John Terry was named as defender of the year, Petr Cech goalkeeper of the year and Frank Lampard midfielder of the year.

Full Champions League draw

GROUP A
Chelsea (England)
AS Roma (Italy)
Girondins Bordeaux (France)
CFR Cluj (Romania)

GROUP B
Inter Milan (Italy)
Werder Bremen (Germany)
Panathinaikos (Greece)
Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus)

GROUP C
Barcelona (Spain)
Sporting (Portugal)
Basel (Switzerland)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)

GROUP D
Liverpool (England)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Olympique Marseille (France)
Atletico Madrid (Spain)

GROUP E
Manchester United (England)
Villarreal (Spain)
Celtic (Scotland)
AaB Aalborg (Denmark)

GROUP F
Olympique Lyon (France)
Bayern Munich (Germany)
Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
Fiorentina (Italy)

GROUP G
Arsenal (England)
Porto (Portugal)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)

GROUP H
Real Madrid (Spain)
Juventus (Italy)
Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia)
BATE Borisov (Belarus)

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: