Champions League draw results 2016: Group F should be very fun

With Real Madrid taking on Borussia Dortmund, we’re in for a re-run of the 2012-13 semifinals and 2013-14 quarters, and given how good those games were, it should be delicious. But whoever emerges on top, those two look certain to progress, leaving Sporting CP to hold off Legia for the Europa League.

The defending champions have had an uncharacteristically quiet summer, but the fact that they are defending champions tells its own story: they’re pretty good. No team has ever retained the trophy, a fact that sits somewhere between “statistical quirk” and “evidence of just how difficult this competition is,” but the core of the team is exceptionally strong and Madrid should have enough about them to top the group. What happens after that is in the lap of the gods.

In contrast to Madrid, Dortmund have spent quite heavily this season, bringing German internationals Mario Gõtze and André Schürrle to the club, along with former Barcelona defender Marc Bartra and widely coveted wonderkid Ousmane Dembélé. If Thomas Tuchel can quickly integrate that lot into his hyperactive football, and if Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is in form, then they could well push Madrid close.

This is a tough draw for last season’s Portuguese runners-up, but assuming they can hang on to their senior squad members for the rest of the transfer window, particularly top-scorer Islam Slimani and midfielder Willam Carvalho, then they’ve definitely got enough about them to take advantage should anybody slip up. Manager Jorge Jesus knows his way around European football, having twice taken Benfica to the final of the Europa League.

Typical, isn’t it? You slog through three rounds of qualifying and then you end up in a group with two teams who will be targeting the latter stages of this competition and another that will certainly fancy the Europa League. Still, if Poland’s champion can nick a point or two against their notional betters, then this group could become very interesting indeed.

Though Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to return from injury around the time that the group stage starts, it seems a little unfair to expect him to click straight back into his usual terrifying form. Luckily for Zinedine Zidane, he has another winger-slash-goalscorer with huge thighs knocking around the squad, so we don’t think they’ll suffer too much.

Working on the assumption that Dortmund and Madrid shouldn’t have too much difficulty against the other two teams — apologies, Legia fans — then it will be the head-to-heads that determine the group, and Madrid’s trip to Germany, in front of the Yellow Wall, should be a sizzling occasion.