• City face Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli in Group A
• Sir Alex Ferguson pleased with Manchester United’s draw
Manchester City’s Champions League debut will mark the moment the club arrive at Europe’s top table and will form the basis of a strong challenge for four trophies this season, executives declared after a tough but navigable draw.
André Villas-Boas – whose Chelsea side will face Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen and the Belgian side Genk in their latest attempt to satisfy Roman Abramovich’s obsession with lifting the trophy – said Roberto Mancini’s side had the “drive and quality” to win it at their first attempt.
City’s football administrator, Brian Marwood, said that trips to Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli would be just reward for fans who had followed the club’s journey from the third tier of English football to the Champions League, fuelled by the millions of Sheikh Mansour and an unprecedented signing spree.
“The football club is making history. It’s the first time it’s ever competed at this level and it’s such an exciting time for everyone connected with the club to be sat in a room with some of the best teams in Europe and the world,” Marwood said. “The ambition is to stay at that level. One thing this club has been over the years is inconsistent and we have to make sure we are coming back here year after year.”
He insisted that the European campaign would not affect domestic form: “Given how we’ve built the squad over the last three years we feel we can have a tilt at four competitions.”
Marwood called City’s a “tough” but “open” group and the Bayern Munich director Karl Hopfner said: “There are four teams from the four best leagues in the world, and it’s the hardest group of all.”
Manchester United, last season’s runners-up, have a comparatively easy draw, including an opening trip to Benfica that will stir memories of the 1968 European Cup final. They also play Basel and the Romanian side Otelul Galati in Group C. “We don’t really know much about Otelul Galati but that’s the beauty of the Champions League, you get fresh teams to play against,” said Sir Alex Ferguson.
David Gill, the Manchester United chief executive, said the draw capped a “good day” in the wake of Ferguson’s rapprochement with the BBC. He welcomed the challenge from their near neighbours, despite now facing more of a battle for the corporate hospitality dollar. “It’s good for Manchester, to have two teams in the Champions League. It’s good for the city. We are pretty confident of doing well again this year, though.”
In 1999, when Manchester United won their second European Cup and completed the treble, City were playing Gillingham in a League One play-off final four days later. Marwood said: “I’d have loved some of our fans to have sat there, the ones who have experienced those wet horrible nights at some of those dark and dank football grounds over the last 15 years.”
Chelsea will face their former midfielder Michael Ballack in their first match, at home to Bayer Leverkusen. In their second, they will travel to Valencia, who they have just paid £26m for Juan Mata.
Villas-Boas said that while he believed City were contenders, “Barcelona are the reference”. But the Chelsea manager said the holders were beatable and that his team could win the competition. “They [Barça] can beat any team in the world, but so could Chelsea and so could Real. If I didn’t believe that, I’d quit the game.”
Asked whether City could win the Champions League, he said: “Why not? They have joined together the best talent in the world this year. It’s something unbelievable. It shows what they want to achieve, and they have a winning coach as well, a coach who won three titles in a row at Inter. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have the drive or the qualities to go all the way through.”
Arsène Wenger will renew hostilities with Marseille first forged in his previous job at Monaco, with Arsenal rewarded for their battling performance against Udinese in the qualifying round with a group that includes Olympiakos and Borussia Dortmund. Robin van Persie, the Arsenal captain, greeted the draw with a tweet featuring a smiley face.
The club’s secretary, David Miles, said: “I’m pleased we don’t have to travel too far, to the eastern European clubs. Arsène will see that as a big bonus.”
Barcelona, aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy since Milan in 1990, were drawn against the Italian side, along with Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic and the Belarussian champions Bate Borisov.
Champions League draw in full
Group A: Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Manchester City, Napoli.
Group B: Inter, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor.
Group C: Manchester United, Benfica, FC Basel, Otelul Galati.
Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb.
Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk.
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund.
Group G: FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St. Petersburg, FC Apoel.
Group H: Barcelona, Milan, FC BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen.
Champions League 2011-12Champions LeagueManchester CityManchester UnitedArsenalChelseaOwen Gibsonguardian.co.uk
