FC Barcelona to face PSG, Ajax and Apoel at the Champions League group stage

Barcelona (FCB).- Barça learned on Thursday evening that their 2014/15 Champions League bid will commence in Group F, which they’ll share with Paris Saint Germain, Ajax Amsterdam and Apoel Nicosia, the respective league champions of France, Holland and Cyprus. The winners of the last two editions of French Ligue 1 last faced FC Barcelona in the Champions League quarter finals two years ago. Barça and Ajax had never met each other in a competitive match until they were paired together in the group stages of last season’s Champions League. Finally, this will be the first ever meeting between Barça and the most successful side in Cypriot football history, APOEL, who famously made it all the way to the Champions League quarter finals two years ago.

Paris Saint Germain

The winners of the last two editions of French Ligue 1 last faced FC Barcelona in the Champions League quarter finals two years ago. A gripping affair ended 3-3 on aggregate, with the Catalans progressing by virtue of the away goals rule. The game is also a re-edition of the 1997 Cup Winners Cup Final in Rotterdam, also won by Barça, 1-0 thanks to a 38th minute Ronaldo penalty.

Barça’s squad that 1996/97 season included French defender Laurent Blanc, although he was forced to sit out the final through injury. The same man is now into his second season on the PSG bench, and he’s not the only connection between the Parisian outfit and FCB. Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined Barça from Inter Milan in 2009, and Brazilians Thiago Motta and Maxwell also spent time in the Catalan capital. The PSG squad contains two other big names from Brazil, David Luiz and Thiago Silva, plus other top quality players of the calibre of Lavezzi, Cavani, Marquinhos, Matuidi and Cabaye.

Ajax Amsterdam

Barça and Ajax had never met each other in a competitive match until they were paired together in the group stages of last season’s Champions League. Under Tata Martino, Barça had few problems beating the Dutch 4-0 at the Camp Nou, but were beaten 2-1 at the Amsterdam Arena, albeit after already having sealed qualification from the group.

Ajax have made up for a seven-year spell without touching the Eredivisie trophy by winning the last four editions. Now managed by Frank de Boer, who played for Barça between 1999 and 2003, the squad includes several players that impressed at the World Cup, including goalkeeper Cillessen and defender Daley Blind. As tends to be the case, Ajax have an extremely young side, in which the oldest player, Moslander, is only 30 years old and most of the team were born in the 1990s..

APOEL Nicosia

This will be the first ever meeting between Barça and the most successful side in Cypriot football history, APOEL, who famously made it all the way to the Champions League quarter finals two years ago. In fact, it’s only the second time Barça have ever been drawn against Cypriot opposition. The last and only time was the 1996-97 Cup Winners Cup campaign under Bobby Robson, when Barça played and beat AEK Larnaca in the first round.

APOEL made it into the group stages of the competition for the third time by first beating HJK Helsinki, curiously enough just a few days after the Finns had played Barça in a preseason friendly, and then Danish side Aalborg 5-1 on aggregate. The squad includes Spaniard Urko Pardo, who spent three years at La Masia, where he shared a dressing room with the likes of Messi and Iniesta.

Zubizarreta: "Three different styles"

After attending today’s draw in Monaco, director of sport Andoni Zubizarreta commented that "when you come to this draw, you know you are always going to be drawn against a big team. If you get over-confident, any team in the Champions League will make it hard for you.”

"We’re going to be facing three very different styles of football” he continued. "We’ve played PSG before. It’ll be a great game. They’re a great team both in terms of individuals and as a unit. But this group isn’t just about PSG. Ajax have shown us before how good they can be. APOEL fight hard. Some very big teams have already found out just what a difficult opponent they are in Europe.”

Zubi also commented that PSG and Ajax are both “fast teams that play well on the counter attack and are well structured at the back.” All in all, Group F promises a series of fascinating encounters. “These are games where every team has the right to dream” he concluded. “We have our dreams, and they all have their own.”

The final will be played on June 6, 2015 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

FC Barcelona's Group F fixtures

- Wednesday September 17 FC Barcelona v Apoel Nicosia

- Tuesday September 30 Paris St Germain v FC Barcelona

- Tuesday October 21 FC Barcelona v Ajax Amsterdam

- Wednesday November 5 Ajax Amsterdam v FC Barcelona

- Tuesday November 25 Apoel Nicosia v FC Barcelona

- Wednesday December 10 FC Barcelona v Paris St Germain

Complete Champions League group stage draw

- Group A: Atlético Madrid, Juventus, Olympiakos, Malmö.

- Group B: Real Madrid, Basel, Liverpool, Ludogorets.

- Group C: Benfica, Zenit, B Leverkusen, Monaco.

- Group D: Arsenal, B Dortmund, Galatasaray, Anderlecht.

- Group E: Bayern Munich, Manchester City, CSKA Moscow, AS Roma.

- Group F: FC Barcelona, PSG, Ajax, APOEL.

- Group G: Chelsea, Schalke, Sporting Lisbon, Maribor.

- Group H: Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao, BATE Borissov.