PEP GUARDIOLA’S MANCHESTER City will face his former club Barcelona in the group stages of the Champions League.
The draw was made this evening in Monaco, with City also up against Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic and Borussia Monchengladbach in a difficult group.
Premier League champions Leicester City were handed a favourable draw on their first appearance — alongside FC Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen.
Tottenham meet CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco, while London rivals Arsenal are set to face French champions Paris Saint-Germain, FC Basel and Ludogorets of Bulgaria.
Defending champions Real Madrid, who won a record 11th European Cup last season, were paired with Borussia Dortmund in Group F alongside Portugal’s Sporting and Legia Warsaw of Poland.
Five-time winners Bayern Munich will play last year’s beaten finalists Atletico Madrid in Group D, which also features PSV Eindhoven and Russian competition debutants Rostov.
Juventus will take on three-time reigning European League champions Sevilla as well as Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb in Group H.
The first round of group matches will be played on 13 & 14 September.
Meanwhile, the Europa League draw, which features Dundalk and Manchester United, takes place at midday tomorrow afternoon.
Additional reporting from © AFP 2016
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Excellent!!great to see him getting financially rewarded for his talent
@Jamie: give it a break lad.
@Barry Ward: what?
Your chip on the shoulder you have against the GAA!
A catholic gaelic footballer from tyrone wearing the sash
@Ruairi Kinsella: ruairi I had to think about that one. Fair play to him anyway. Wouldn’t we all like to have the ability to do it and get paid for it. Beats what I do for a living anyway.
What sort of financial figures do minors converting AFL Get?
@Christiaan Theron: 100% more than what they’d get staying with the GAA
@Christiaan Theron: I think rookies get a minimum AUD$70k. Tadgh Kennelly was quoted as saying the Irish kids going out are on standard contracts of AUD$80k with flights, rent and a car taken care of for 2 years. After that they’d hope to be on a senior list and earning something close to the league average of AUD$300k, but I’d guess that average is skewed high by the elite players wages.