Borussia Moenchengladbach and Celtic join City and Barca in a fiercely competitive group, but it is the return of Guardiola – and to a lesser extend Begiristain and boardroom colleague Ferran Soriano – to Catalonia that offers the most mouth-watering prospect.
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Nevertheless, UEFA confirmed that the current qualifying format, separating domestic champions and teams who qualify via a lower league placing, will be retained.
Leicester, the other newcomers among the 32 teams, and Porto will start as favourites in Group G even though the English side are taking part for the first time.
Tottenham Hotspur fell short in their bid to overhaul Leicester last season, but will be similarly satisfied by being placed in Group E with CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco.
Group D: Bayern Munich (Germany), Atletico Madrid (Spain), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Rostov (Russia).
Arsenal, meanwhile, have been drawn against Paris Saint-Germain, Basel and Ludogorets.
He said: “It’s good for our fans to come here and for you (the media) – a lot of you are in the Champions League for the first time”.
Sporting Lisbon and Legia Warsaw should give Real few problems, though Dortmund will certainly be a tough proposition.
But while Brendan Rodgers’ team will be underdogs in the group, their formidable Champions League record at Celtic Park, where they have defeated Barcelona and Manchester United in recent seasons, ensures that City will travel to Glasgow on September 28 mindful of the unique difficulties the fixture will pose. We are really happy but it will be very tough.
“Atletico Madrid already threw FC Bayern out of the competition last season”.
The Foxes, fancied as relegation candidates last season, shocked the world to go on and win the Premier League title and in the process earned a spot at Europe’s top table.
The draw held yesterday in Monaco will also see coach Pep Guardiola, who spent majority of his coaching career with Barcelona heading back to Nou Camp for a reunion with the Catalan giants.
Emulating last season’s semi-final run is a target for Manchester City despite being drawn in a Champions League group alongside Barcelona.
It should have an easier time this campaign, as it has been pitted against Benfica, Dynamo Kiev and Besiktas. I love the song of the Champions League.
They drop into the Europa League and progress through to the semi-finals where they are beaten 3-1 on aggregate by fellow group stage third placers, Basel.
City captain Vincent Kompany tweeted: “Usual type of draw for us”.
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“Also he knows Barcelona and we are going to explain to him more about Celtic”.
