Today, the 2015/26 UEFA Champions League draw for the group stage was held today in Monaco which included five Spanish teams -- FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, and the two-time defending Europa League champions, Sevilla.
For the first time in a long time, there are really no easy groups, each of the eight drawn today in the principality
No easy task
It is perhas Barcelona, however, who have the easiest road to the round of 16, as they got paired with Bayer Leverkusen, AS Roma, and Bulgarian outfit, BATE Borisov. The Italian club will be their most difficult test as Rudi Garcia has really revamped his attacking trio and look to challenge for the Serie A title.
Sevilla gets handed the toughest test by being pitted against Serie A champions Juventus, perennial Premier League power house Manchester City, and Bundesliga runner-up Borussia Monchengladbach. This will be no easy task for the Seville side and it will be interesting to see how they go about their business. Will their league campaign suffer as a result of trying to go toe-to-toe against these giants or will they play it more conservatively?
For the Madrid clubs, Rafa Benitez will have the bigger tasks coming up against Champions League regulars in Ligue 1 champions and Shakthar Donestsk, drew Bayern Munich 0-0 at home last year. Atletico Madrid, on the other hand, have a better draw going up against Benfica, Galatasary, and new boys, Astana.
This leaves Valenica. Under Nuno Espirito, they are back in the Champions League after finishing in the middle of the table during the 2013/14 season. Luckily, one of their opponnents in this edition is the Belgian champions, Gent, who should pose no problems. The other two, however are a bit more problematic, especially Zenit St. Petersburg on the road.
With all of this said, it would not be surprising if only three of these five will make it out of the group stage and into the knockout rounds. However, the remaining two should have enough to make a deep run into the Europa League.