The club coefficient system will also undergo changes.
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That said, Manchester City supporters might have maintained a slimmer of hope that this was the year things would change for them in late August and they would not be placed in a deadly Champions League group.
Arsenal will also be backed to secure a place in the knock-out stages once after being drawn in Group A with Paris Saint-Germain, FC Basel and Ludogorets Razgrad, the champions of Bulgaria.
“We know the teams we are up against are huge teams, but it doesn’t stop us trying to fight and seeing where it takes us”, said Rodgers.
Manager Jose Mourinho and Manchester United will face Turkey’s Fenerbahce, Dutch club Feyenoord and Ukraine’s Zorya Luhansk in the Europa League group stage.
“I was injured past year and was only able to watch from the stands in Manchester so now I’m looking forward to being involved”.
Guardiola will return to former club Barcelona with Manchester City Group C after the two sides were thrown together in Thursday’s group stage draw.
The draw was an exciting occasion for Leicester following their remarkable triumph last season. Guardiola will surely train the City players until they are so exhausted they will end up joining Jeremy Corbyn resting on that Virgin carriage floor, but the Spanish side have beaten City twice in the Round of 16 in recent years. “It is a very hard competition to win – for everybody – and you need luck along the way, but we are ready and always trying to improve”.
In recent seasons, Italy typically has had only two group-stage teams because Serie A’s third-place team often loses in the playoffs.
The eight four-team groups begin play on September 13-14.
“We have good Champions League pedigree but of course recently we have met with Barcelona and Bayern Munich and unfortunately failed at that hurdle”.
Tottenham Hotspur, who return to Europe’s elite for the first time since reaching the 2010-11 quarter-finals, will come up against Russian champions CSKA Moscow, Bayern Leverkusen and Monaco in Group E.
(I doubt it, but, then again, Leicester did win the league!).
“It is obviously a hard group but it always is in the Champions League”.
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“If we can get the right one or two players in, that is what we will look to do”.
