The Champions League group draw took place on Thursday with a number of historic sides meeting in the initial stage of the tournament.

Here are some impressions from the draw:

Real Madrid & Liverpool Highlight Easy Group B

The defending Champs was given a rather easy draw compared to last season, when Galatasaray and Juventus were members of Group B. This time around, the team drew the likes of Liverpool, FC Basel and Ludogorets Razgrad. The latter side is probably going to be lucky to get more than two points from this group while the Swiss side could pose a threat. However, Basel was handed an easier group last season and failed to get out of the group.

That leaves Real Madrid and Liverpool as the two favorites to get out of the group. Madrid is the favorite, but Liverpool will have a chance to test themselves.

Rematches Galore

A year ago, Barcelona took on Ajax Amsterdam in the group round. They will get to take on the Dutch as part of Group F. Manchester City and Bayern Munich, Schalke 04 and Chelsea and Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund are other matchups from last year's group round that will face off yet again in this year's tournament. It should make for some interesting scenarios. Of these rematches, the Arsenal-Dortmund and Manchester-Munich ones are the most interesting.

Group H Is Wide Open

Athletic Bilbao, Porto, Shahktar Donetsk and BATE Borisov is arguably the most wide open group in the tournament. There are no major heavy hitters, but there is no clear favorite. Bilbao looks strong heading in, but Porto should not be discounted. Donetsk managed to overcome a group featuring Juventus and Chelsea two years ago while Borisov defeated Bayern Munich in its championship year, as well. It should make for an interesting competition.

Chelsea Gets It Easy

The biggest winner of the draw was Jose Mourinho and Chelsea. His group includes Schalke 04, Maribor and Sporting Lisbon. The toughest team in this group is arguably Schalke, but Mourinho's side easily dispatched the German contingent 6-0 over two matches during last season's group stage. And that was a defensive Chelsea side with no major offensive threat. Imagine what the team can do now with Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa in addition to Eden Hazard and Andre Schurrle?

No Real Group of Death

Draws are exciting because they usually reveal a group featuring three or more major contenders with the outcome completely beyond certainty. Last year's draw featured Napoli, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund while a year earlier Ajax Amsterdam was grouped with Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City. In the World Cup, there were a plethora of groups including B (Spain, Chile, Netherlands, Australia), D (England, Costa Rica, Italy, Uruguay) and G (Germany, USA, Ghana, Portugal).

Unfortunately, there is no real Group of Death in the 2014-15 Champions League. There are two groups that get close, but neither is really that laden with suspense. Arsenal and Dortmund have Galatasaray and Anderlecht, but few would truly give the latter two sides much of a chance in this group. Galatasaray was competitive in 2013-14 because of Didier Drogba's genius, but he is no longer there.

The other group considered "Death" is the one between Bayern Munich and Manchester City, which also got Roma and CSKA Moscow. The Russian team is the weakest side in the group and is likely to get steamrolled by its rivals. Bayern is the undisputed favorite to win the group while Roma and Manchester City will battle for second place. Most would give second place to Manchester City considering their history in the competition over the years. Roma has not participated in the UCL since 2010-11.

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