The road to Wembley Stadium will be a difficult one for the defending champions of Spain, England and Germany.
Real Madrid, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund were drawn together in a stacked Group D to highlight the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League draw, which was conducted in Monaco. Ajax, which is coming off another Dutch championship, was drawn with Madrid for the third straight year and rounds out the difficult group as the teams begin their quests to reach the final at Wembley.
Defending champion Chelsea was drawn with Italian champion Juventus, while big-spending Paris St. Germain, which came out of Pot 3, lucked into a favorable draw with Porto, Dynamo Kyiv and Dinamo Zagreb.
Americans Jermaine Jones, Sacha Kljestan and Michael Parkhurst also learned their fates. Jones' Schalke will take on Arsenal, Olympiakos and Montpellier; Kljestan's Anderlecht were drawn with AC Milan, Zenit-St. Petersburg and Malaga; and Parkhurst's FC Nordsjaelland will be tested by Chelsea, Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Here are the eight groups in this season's UEFA Champions League:
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUPS
GROUP A
Porto, Dynamo Kyiv, Paris St.-Germain, Dinamo Zagreb
GROUP B
Arsenal, Schalke, Olympiakos, Montpellier
GROUP C
AC Milan, Zenit-St. Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga
GROUP D
Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund
GROUP E
Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, FC Nordsjaelland
GROUP F
Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, BATE Borisov
GROUP G
Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic
GROUP H
Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray, CFR 1907 Cluj
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What do you think of the groups? Which teams do you see getting out of Group D? Which teams do you see getting to the knockout stage? How do you see the teams with Americans faring?
Share your thoughts below.