By AVI CREDITOR
The UEFA Champions League draw was held in Monaco, and the Road to Wembley has some intriguing group-stage matchups along the way.
Oguchi Onyewu and AC Milan were the hard-luck losers of the draw, being drawn into the same group as Real Madrid for the second straight year and also having to deal with Ajax Amsterdam.
As for the other Americans, Maurice Edu and Rangers were drawn into the same group as Manchester United, Valencia and Bursaspor, and Jermaine Jones and Schalke were drawn into the same group as Lyon, Benfica and Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Other highlights include Barcelona having a pretty ideal road to the knockout stage, although pesky Rubin Kazan is also in its group again; Chelsea and Marseille being drawn into the same group, giving Didier Drogba a chance to go up against his former side; and defending champion Inter Milan drawing a tough trio of Werder Bremen, Tottenham and FC Twente.
UEFA also announced that it will be incorporating goal-line officials for the Champions League this year, building off the Europa League experiment from last year.
Here are the eight groups for the 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League:
GROUP A
- Inter Milan
- Werder Bremen
- Tottenham
- FC Twente
GROUP B
- Lyon
- Benfica
- Schalke 04
- Hapoel Tel-Aviv
GROUP C
- Manchester United
- Valencia
- Rangers
- Bursaspor
GROUP D
- FC Barcelona
- Panathinaikos
- FC Copenhagen
- Rubin Kazan
GROUP E
- Bayern Munich
- AS Roma
- FC Basel
- CFJ 1907 Cluj
GROUP F
- Chelsea
- Marseille
- Spartak Moscow
- MSK Zilina
GROUP G
- AC Milan
- Real Madrid
- Ajax
- AJ Auxerre
GROUP H
- Arsenal
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- SC Braga
- Partizan Belgrade
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Which group seems the toughest to you? Which favorite do you think has the toughest road ahead? Which favorite has the easiest road? Which American do you see advancing the furthest? Happy that there will be goal-line officials in the Champions League?
Share your thoughts below.