Holders Inter face Spurs, Real up against Milan

The Champions League group stage draw held yesterday pitted title holders Inter against Tottenham with Real Madrid, now coached by Inter’s former boss Jose Mourinho, facing Milan.

Inter, now in the care of former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, also have German side Werder Bremen and Dutch champions FC Twente for company in Group A along with Spurs, making their debut in the world’s most lucrative club competition.

Werder Bremen’s director of sport Klaus Allofs admitted Werder Bremen face an uphill task.

“This is a tough group. Inter are the clear favourites, but we are ninth in the UEFA rankings and we want to prove ourselves and finish second in the group,” Allofs said.

Group B features last season’s semi-finalists Lyon, Schalke, Benfica and Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Three-time European champions Manchester United have a trip across the border to play Scottish giants Rangers, with Spanish outfit Valencia and Bursaspor of Turkey completing Group C.

United and Rangers were drawn together at the same stage in 2003/2004 with United winning 3-0 at home and 1-0 at Ibrox.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who played for Rangers in the 1960s, will be back on familiar territory as Rangers’ Ibrox stadium is in the Glasgow district of Govan where the United manager was born.

“(Rangers manager) Walter Smith’s already been on the phone, talking about tickets for Old Trafford! Like me, he’s really looking forward to our games against each other,” Ferguson told United’s website.

The 2009 winners Barcelona, one of eight top seeds, were thrown into Group D with Greek outfit Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen, and Russian league winners Rubin Kazan.

Bayern Munich, last season’s beaten finalists at Mourinho’s new home, the Bernabeu stadium, will have to extricate themselves from Group E where they face Roma, Basel and CFR Cluj.

Chelsea, defeated by United in the Moscow final in 2008, are in Group F with Marseille, the only French team to ever lift the trophy, Spartak Moscow and Slovakian side Zilina.

Group G looks the toughest of all with three former winners, Real, Milan and Ajax.

Real and Milan are facing each other at this stage of the competition for the second season in a row.

Completing the cast list for this mini-league are surprise package from France, Auxerre.

The road to the 2011 final at the new Wembley stadium starts next month with four English Premier League sides in the mix, and the last of this quartet Arsenal were put in Group H.

The Gunners face a long trip to Ukraine to play Shakhtar Donetsk, and will also tackle Sporting Braga and Partizan Belgrade.

The rules of the draw are such that none of the English sides can play each other before the quarter-finals.

The first round of group games will take place on September 14 and 15, with the final taking place at Wembley on May 28, 2011.

English bookmakers make a Spanish team 11-10 favourites to lift the trophy with an English side next best in the betting at 2-1.

An all-Spanish final is rated a 7-2 chance, and all-English final 11-2 and an all-Italian finale 33-1.

Group A

Inter
Werder Bremen
Tottenham
Twente

14/09/10 - Twente vs Inter
14/09/10 - W. Bremen vs Tottenham
29/09/10 - Tottenham vs Twente
29/09/10 - Inter vs W. Bremen
20/10/10 - Inter vs Tottenham
20/10/10 - Twente vs W. Bremen
02/11/10 - Tottenham vs Inter
02/11/10 - W. Bremen vs Twente
24/11/10 - Inter vs Twente
24/11/10 - Tottenham vs W. Bremen
07/12/10 - Twente vs Tottenham
07/12/10 - W. Bremen vs Inter

Group B

Olympique Lyon
Benfica
Schalke 04
Hapoel Tel-Aviv

14/09/10 - O. Lyon vs Schalke 04
14/09/10 - Benfica vs H. Tel-Aviv
29/09/10 - H. Tel-Aviv vs O. Lyon
29/09/10 - Schalke 04 vs Benfica
20/10/10 - Schalke 04 vs H. Tel-Aviv
20/10/10 - O. Lyon vs Benfica
02/11/10 - H. Tel-Aviv vs Schalke 04
02/11/10 - Benfica vs O. Lyon
24/11/10 - Schalke vs O. Lyon
24/11/10 - H. Tel-Aviv vs Benfica
07/12/10 - O. Lyon vs H. Tel-Aviv
07/12/10 - Benfica vs Schalke

Group C

Manchester United
Valencia
Rangers
Bursaspor

14/09/10 - Man. United vs Rangers
14/09/10 - Bursaspor vs Valencia
29/09/10 - Valencia vs Man.United
29/09/10 - Rangers vs Bursaspor
20/10/10 - Rangers vs Valencia
20/10/10 - Man. United vs Bursaspor
02/11/10 - Valencia vs Rangers
02/11/10 - Bursaspor vs Man. United
24/11/10 - Rangers vs Man. United
24/11/10 - Valencia vs Bursaspor
07/12/10 - Man. United vs Valencia
07/12/10 - Bursaspor vs Rangers

Group D

Barcelona
Panathinaikos
FC Copenhagen
Rubin Kazan

14/09/10 - Barcelona vs Panathinaikos
14/09/10 - FC Copenhagen vs Rubin Kazan
29/09/10 - Rubin Kazan vs Barcelona
29/09/10 - Panathinaikos vs FC Copenhagen
20/10/10 - Panathinaikos vs Rubin Kazan
20/10/10 - Barcelona vs FC Copenhagen
02/11/10 - Rubin Kazan vs Panathinaikos
02/11/10 - FC Copenhagen vs Barcelona
24/11/10 - Panathinaikos vs Barcelona
24/11/10 - Rubin Kazan vs FC Copenhagen
07/12/10 - Barcelona vs Rubin Kazan
07/12/10 - FC Copenhagen vs Panathinaikos

Group E

Bayern Munich
Roma
Basel
CFR Cluj

15/09/10 - B. Munich vs Roma
15/09/10 - CFR Cluj vs Basel
28/09/10 - Basel vs B. Munich
28/09/10 - Roma vs CFR Cluj
19/10/10 - Roma vs Basel
19/10/10 - B. Munich vs CFR Cluj
03/11/10 - Basel vs Roma
03/11/10 - CFR Cluj vs B. Munich
23/11/10 - Basel vs CFR Cluj
23/11/10 - Roma vs B. Munich
08/12/10 - B. Munich vs Basel
08/12/10 - CFR Cluj vs Roma

Group F

Chelsea
O. Marseille
Spartak Moscow
MSK Zilina

15/09/10 - Marseille vs S. Moscow
15/09/10 - Zilina vs Chelsea
28/09/10 - Chelsea vs Marseille
28/09/10 - S. Moscow vs Zilina
19/10/10 - Marseille vs Zilina
19/10/10 - S. Moscow vs Chelsea
03/11/10 - Chelsea vs S. Moscow
03/11/10 - Zilina vs Marseille
23/11/10 - Chelsea vs Zilina
23/11/10 - S. Moscow vs Marseille
08/12/10 - Marseille vs Chelsea
08/12/10 - Zilina vs S. Moscow

Group G

Milan
Real Madrid
Ajax
Auxerre

15/09/10 - Real Madrid vs Ajax
15/09/10 - Milan vs Auxerre
28/09/10 - Auxerre vs Real Madrid
28/09/10 - Ajax vs Milan
19/10/10 - Ajax vs Auxerre
19/10/10 - Real Madrid vs Milan
03/11/10 - Auxerre vs Ajax
03/11/10 - Milan vs Real Madrid
23/11/10 - Auxerre vs Milan
23/11/10 - Ajax vs Real Madrid
08/12/10 - Real Madrid vs Auxerre
08/12/10 - Milan vs Ajax

Group H

Arsenal
S. Donetsk
Braga
Partizan

15/09/10 - Arsenal vs Braga
15/09/10 - S. Donetsk vs Partizan
28/09/10 - Partizan vs Arsenal
28/09/10 - Braga vs S. Donetsk
19/10/10 - Braga vs Partizan
19/10/10 - Arsenal vs S. Donetsk
03/11/10 - Partizan vs Braga
03/11/10 - S. Donetsk vs Arsenal
23/11/10 - Braga vs Arsenal
23/11/10 - Partizan vs S. Donetsk
08/12/10 - Arsenal vs Partizan
08/12/10 - S. Donetsk vs Braga