Make that Group D for Drama. Sub-plots spill from every team-sheet. The Real Madrid-City duel offers plenty of fascination. Cristiano Ronaldo is back in Manchester, this time in the cacophonous backyard of the noisy neighbours.
“It’s pretty difficult,” said Ronaldo of the group. “In my opinion, and I am sure the opinion of most people, it is the most difficult group and the most competitive. But we are ready. We are champions of Spain and we are ready to compete with anybody. In my opinion the best teams in the world are there in Spain, in Real Madrid and Barcelona.”
More drama clings to Jose Mourinho and Mario Balotelli. Real’s manager once described the mercurial striker as “unmanageable” during their tense Inter Milan days. “Mario is Mario and Jose is Jose!’’ smiled Patrick Vieira, City’s football development executive.
“One thing that is sure is that facing Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax, Mario will want to play, perform and score goals. With the way he played in the Euros there is expectation for all of us in Mario. He was one of the best players at the Euros.”
He gave Real’s defender Sergio Ramos a few problems when Spain collided with Italy in the group stage.
Yet Balotelli has huge respect for Mourinho, telling City players what a charismatic, inspiring coach he was to play under despite being sent to the reserves at Inter. Vieira himself left Inter during the Mourinho years but held no grudges.
“Wherever Jose has been, he has been successful,” said Vieira. “He went to Chelsea, and was successful. He went to Inter Milan and was a success. He’s successful at Real Madrid. The Premier League does not hold any secrets for Jose. He follows the Premier League 100 per cent. It will be a good match between Jose and [Roberto] Mancini, really exciting.’’
As well as Balotelli, Vieira believes that all of the players in Mancini’s dressing room will be stirred at the prospect of playing at the Bernabéu, where City commence their campaign on Sept 18, at the Amsterdam Arena and then Dortmund’s impressive Signal Iduna Park.
“I’m sure the players are 100 per cent excited to go to the Bernabéu, to go to the fantastic stadium of Dortmund and face a big club like Ajax,’’ continued Vieira.
“It is the most difficult group but you want to face those kind of teams. Roberto will want to win the Champions League because he never won it as a player or manager.
“Winning the FA Cup, then the Premier League last year and having the experience in the Champions League last year will bring the belief that we can win it. It will have a perfect impact for the competition.
“When you look at the way Chelsea went to the end, you need to go through the year with the luck having your best players without injury.”
Vieira was standing in for Brian Marwood at the draw in Monaco because City’s sporting director had been detained at home, bringing in new recruits as transfer deadline day loomed. City will need Sergio Agüero to regain fitness quickly, for Vincent Kompany to be at his most obdurate defensively and Carlos Tévez to maintain his sprightly new mood if City are to progress to the knockout stages.
City are now a force in Europe, a point confirmed by Real director Emilio Butragueño.
“City are a very strong team after an enormous investment in recent years and they will be a rival of the highest level,’’ said the Real legend.
The other English clubs fared better in the draw, especially Manchester United, who were pitted against Braga, Galatasaray and Cluj. Galatasaray brings back dark memories for United. Back in the mid-nineties, Eric Cantona faced a wall of riot police and Phil Neville marched through Istanbul airport with shards of glass glistening on his club blazer after United’s coach was bricked.
The club have moved on from “Hell”, otherwise known as Galatasaray’s smoke-filled Ali Sami Yen stadium, and now play at the Turk Telecom Arena.
“We have the experience of playing against Galatasaray in the past and we will always remember the ‘Welcome to Hell’ banners so it’s always a difficult type of match,” the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, said.
“We have drawn Portuguese clubs a number of times over the past few years. Braga are one of the improving teams in that country. We’ve never played Cluj before but, after the experience of last year, we don’t want to make any stupid errors this time. We will play our strongest team to make sure we get through.”
Arsenal face a fairly awkward group, although one they should negotiate successfully if Olivier Giroud can find his scoring boots from his Montpellier days. Arsenal play the French side first away on Sept 18 and must also find a path past Schalke and Olympiakos.
“Arsenal are a European great, Olympiakos’s fans are among the hottest and Schalke represent the German seriousness,” said the Montpellier coach René Girard.
Chelsea drew Juventus, kicking off at the Bridge on Sept 19, and also face a trip to Shakhtar Donetsk, a stadium some of their England players like John Terry and Ashley Cole will know well from Euro 2012.
Chelsea also take on the little-known Danish club, Nordsjaelland, who are based just outside Copenhagen. Celtic’s reward for four years of attempting to get into the group stage was a daunting group involving Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow. Nobody said it would be easy.
Group A: FC Porto, Dynamo Kiev, 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, Nordsjaelland
Group F: Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, BATE Borisov
Group G: Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic
Group H: Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray, CFR Cluj
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