Chelsea get toughest possible Champions League draw, with plenty of 2012 reruns | OneFootball

The draw has been made and Chelsea now know their 8 opponents in the Champions League league phase for this season…

The Blues couldn’t have got a harder draw, in reality.

From Pot 1 they got Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

From Pot 2 they got Atalanta and Benfica.

From Pot 3 Napoli and Ajax.

From Pot 4 Qarabag and Pafos.

Chelsea face 2012 reunions on return to CL

Chelsea’s Champions League competition.

This is a baptism of fire for Enzo Maresca’s team on their return to Europe’s top competition.

There are also a lot of interesting storylines in there, mainly focused on a 2012 Champions League reunion tour,

The Blues won this competition that year, beating Bayern Munich in the final, Barcelona in the semi final, Benfica in the quarter final, and Napoli in the second round. Amazingly, they face all four of them again this year.

There’s also a 2012 connection at Pafos, where David Luiz has just moved. The Brazilian was a key figure in our success 13 years ago, and there will likely be a great reunion with him.

Chelsea fans delighted for major challenge

While it would have been better for our league season to get some softer games, there aren’t many fans who are complaining right now.

We’ve been suffering out in the cold away from this competition, and now we’re back we want to face the biggest teams possible. We’d rather spend our evenings taking on Barcelona and Bayern Munich than Noah or FC Heidenheim.

Let’s not forget, PSG came within a game of missing out on the knockout stages last year, then went on to win the competition, so it shouldn’t hurt us in the later stages, as long as we get through.

We look forward to being tested so early in the season. Our first game comes in less than a month’s time.