UEFA Unveils Champions League Draw

Real Madrid (Group H) and Bayern Munich (Group F) face the toughest task of progressing to the knockout stages, while new boys BATE Borisov became the first Belarussian side ever to make the Champions League. Here is a look at two of the toughest groups.

Real Madrid Lumped With Juventus

Real Madrid's quest to avoid being elimintated from the round of 16 for the fifth straight year may end even earlier with Italian heavyweights Juventus back in the fold after the infamous match-fixing scandal sent the club to soccer Siberia for a few years. Juve breezed through its third-round qualification battle with Slovakian side Artmedia Bratislava and boast plenty of experience with David Trezeguet, Pavel Nedved and Gianluigi Buffon.

President Ramon Calderon is hoping the inability to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka or David Villa will not come back to haunt him if the club starts out slowly in La Liga or in Europe. The surprise sale of Robinho to Manchester City will put pressure on the Dutch contingent of Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben and new signing Rafael Van der Vaart to produce right away.

Former Soviet Union Respresented

Group H also features reigning Russian and UEFA Cup Champions Zenit St. Petersburg, who managed to hold on to starlet Andrei Arshavin for this European campaign. Dick Advocaat also bolstered the lineup by adding Portuguese international Danny, who displayed his talents by scoring in the 2-1 win over Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup. Rounding out the group is the aforementioned BATE Borisov, who will collect its 15 or so million euros for six matches and go home a richer club.

Bayern Munich Face Tough Away Contests

A pair of draws--one in which Bayern blew a two-goal lead at home to Hamburg--to open up Bundesliga play has to have head coach Jurgen Klinsmann a bit worried when daunting road affairs at Lyon, Fiorentina and Steaua Bucharest loom. After slumming in the UEFA Cup a year ago, the team boasts arguably the best tandem of strikers in Luca Toni and Lukas Podolski and a dynamic playmaker in Franck Ribery, but the club has failed to even make a semifinal appearance since they won the tournament back in 2000-2001.

Olympique Lyon Ready to Go

Besides the Harlem Globetrotters besting the Washington Generals, the chances of perennial French champions Lyon making the UEFA Champions League is the only other surest bet. While the club's bid for eighth straight Ligue 1 title has been well documented, the little known fact is Claude Puel's club have made the last 16 in European play all five times since the bloated second group stage was abolished in 2003. Not bad for a team that does not have the financial pull of the elite English, Spanish or Italian clubs.

Fiorentina is Back

The days of Rui Costa making killer passes, Gabriel Batistuta torturing opposing defenders and Tomas Repka's sound defending may be long gone, but Fiorentina is back! Now the men in purple rely on Romanian Adrian Mutu and Milan castoff Alberto Gilardino to bag goals, Marco Donadel to provide service and Dario Dainelli to stabalize the back. If Bayern think they will just stroll into Florence and come away with three points, a rude awakening could happen.

Steaua Rounds Out Group F

While Steaua Bucharest is clearly the weakest team in the group, a trip to the capital city in Romania can be a banana peel for any team to slip up on. To their credit, Marius Lacatus' team make their third straight appearance to the tournament and knocked out a feisty Galatasaray side to get there.

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