Holder Barcelona has been drawn with seven-time European Cup winner AC Milan plus outsider BATE Borisov of Belarus and Viktoria Plzen of Czech Republic in the group stage of the Champions League. Manchester United, beaten in last season's final at Wembley Stadium, was drawn Thursday with Benfica, the team it beat in the 1968 final at Wembley, Basel and Romanians Otelul Galati who are making their debut in the competition. Manchester City, the world's richest club thanks to owner Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi and playing in the Champions League for the first time, was drawn with four-time European Cup winner Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli. New boy Sergio Aguero, City's record 38 million pounds ($61.81 million) signing, faces a trip to Napoli, the former club of father-in-law Diego Maradona. Real Madrid, European champion a record nine times, faces perennial opponent Olympique Lyon along with Ajax Amsterdam and Dinamo Zagreb, back in the competition after a 12-year absence. Trabzonspor, brought in Thursday after the Turkish FA withdrew Fenerbahce because of match-fixing allegations, will play in the same group as 2010 champion Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow and Lille. The group stage starts on Sept. 13-14, with the final set for Munich on May 19. Arsenal had teetered on the brink of elimination before coming from behind to win 2-1 at Udinese and qualify for the Champions League for the 14th season in a row Wednesday. Twice former European champion Benfica had joined it with a 3-1 win over Twente Enschede and Olympique Lyon made it 12 appearances in a row by holding out for a 1-1 draw at Rubin Kazan in the playoff second legs. Czech champion Viktoria Plzen qualified for the first time, beating FC Copenhagen 2-1, and BATE Borisov completed the lineup by knocking out Sturm Graz.
