Monaco: Champions Real Madrid will play five-time former winners Liverpool, while fellow Spanish giants Barcelona plucked big-spending Paris Saint-Germain as the Champions League group stage draw was made in Monaco on Thursday.

But the most mouth-watering draw saw 2013 champions Bayern Munich paired with Manchester City, Roma and CSKA Moscow in Group E.

It is the third time in four years that Bayern and City will have faced each other in the group stages.

For English Premier League winners City, who failed to progress from the group stages in two of the last three years, it continues a run of tough draws at this stage of Europe’s premier club competition.

In 2011/12 they were paired with Bayern and Napoli and missed out on the knock-out stages after failing to beat the Italians at home.

A year later they finished bottom of a group containing Real, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax as they failed to win a single game.

Only last year, when they were also thrown in with Bayern, did City manage to get through the group stages and this time their job will not be simple.

But perhaps the most eagerly-anticipated group matches will see four-time winners Barcelona come up against PSG, who recruited Brazilian centre-back David Luiz from Chelsea in the close season.

He will be meeting a familiar foe in new Barca signing Luis Suarez, the former Liverpool forward.

Four-time former winners Ajax, another of Suarez’s previous sides, are alongside the pair in Group F, as well as Cypriots Apoel.

Real and Liverpool will be confident of progressing from Group B where debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria, who were only formed in 20001 and whose stadium holds just 8,000 fans, and Swiss outfit Basel, who knocked out Manchester United at this stage three years ago, await.

 

Moti’s heroics

Ludogorets’s participation came in large part thanks to the heroics of defender Cosmin Moti.

He was forced into goal in the last minute of extra-time of their play-off second leg 1-1 draw with Romanians Steaua Bucharest after goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov was dismissed in the final minute.

The game went almost immediately into penalties where not only did Moti score his side’s first spot-kick but he saved two of the Romanians to send the Bulgarians into the lucrative group stages.

There was a kinder draw, on paper at least, for 2012 champions Chelsea, who poached Germans Schalke 04, Sporting Lisbon of Portugal and Slovenia’s Maribor in Group G.

Arsenal, bidding to reach the knock-out stages for the 12th year in a row, plucked Borussia Dortmund, the 2013 finalists, in a tough Group D with Galatasaray, who beat them in the 2000 UEFA Cup final, and Belgian giants Anderlecht.

Last year’s runners-up Atletico Madrid, the Spanish champions, pulled Italian champions Juventus out of the hat in Group A, along with Greeks Olympiakos, who regularly struggle at this stage, and Swedes Malmo, the European Cup runners-up from 1979.

Portuguese pair Porto and Benfica were given manageable draws, the latter plucking Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao of Spain and Belarus representatives BATE Borisov in Group H.

Benfica, the twice former winners, were drawn against Russians Zenit St Petersburg, coached by former Porto boss Andre Villas-Boas, Bayer Leverkusen of Germany and Russian-backed Monaco in Group C.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was named European Footballer of the Year, the Portuguese striker topping the journalists’ poll ahead of Manuel Neuer and Arjen Robben.

Ronaldo is the fourth recipient of the award, the previous winners were Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi.

This time Ronaldo prevailed in a vote by 54 European journalists which took place on the sidelines of the draw for the Champions League group stages in Monaco.

“I’ve worked hard for this award, I am very happy, I thank all my team, because without that kind of team individual awards couldn’t exist,” said the reigning Ballon d’Or titleholder, after receiving his award from UEFA chief Michel Platini.

Ronaldo failed to sparkle at the World Cup in Brazil where Portugal were eliminated in the first round, but inspired Real Madrid on the European stage.

The 29-year-old broke the record for goals, 17, by a player in a Champions League campaign last season as Madrid claimed their tenth European title.

“It was amazing, something that Madrid had looked to do for many years,” said the striker.

“As Madrid players we feel as though you have to win the Champions League. It was a fantastic season — we won the Champions League, the Spanish Cup and the (UEFA) Super Cup.”

Attacking midfielder Nadine Kessler won the women’s award ahead of Wolfburg teammates Nilla Fischer of Sweden and fellow German Martina Muller.

Kessler, 26, topped the vote of a jury of 12 journalists to succeed Germany goalkeeper Nadine Angerer, who claimed the inaugural award last year.