Chelsea to meet Juventus

MONTE CARLO, Monaco (AP):

Defending champion Chelsea will take on Juventus, while Real Madrid will face Manchester City in this season's Champions League group stage.

Yesterday's draw pitched the holders against a Juventus side that stormed to the Serie A title and were unbeaten in all competitions last season apart from the Italian Cup final. Group E also includes Shakhtar Donetsk and Champions League debutants Nordsjaelland of Denmark.

Nine-time winners Madrid have been handed the toughest draw - with three league champions in Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax in Group D. The Spanish champions beat Ajax 3-0 both home and away in last season's competition.

Bayern Munich, last season's runners-up, are in Group F with Valencia - who they beat on penalties in the 2011 final - as well as Lille and BATE Borisov.

Four-time winners Barcelona face Benfica, Spartak Moscow and Celtic.

Manchester United, who failed to clear the group stage last season, also have a relatively weak group with Braga, Galatasaray and Cluj.

Big-spending Paris Saint-Germain return to the Champions League after an eight-year absence and will play Porto, Dynamo Kiev and Dinamo Zagreb.

French champions Montpellier makes their debut in the competition against Arsenal, Schalke and Olympiakos. Arsenal beat Olympiakos 2-1 at the same stage last season before losing the final group game 3-1. They also met the Greek team in 2009-2010.

Seven-time winners AC Milan are in a group with Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht and Malaga - another Champions League debutant.