UEFA Champions League Draw Announced; American Trio Learns Fate

The three Americans (okay, Jermaine Jones is a stretch, but he wants to play for the U.S.) whose clubs are through to the UEFA Champions League group stage learned their opponents Wednesday afternoon in Monaco during a draw highlighted by the pairing of Oguchi Onyewu's AC Milan with nine-time champion Real Madrid and Dutch power Ajax.

Onyewu earned one appearance in last year's group stage, a 29 minute stint in a 1-0 loss to FC Zürich, before a knee injury ended his season. Milan was eliminated in the competition's round-of-16 by Manchester United.

While nearly fully healthy, Onyewu isn't likely to see too many European minutes this fall, however. Meanwhile, the Serie A season begins this weekend, with Milan scheduled to host Lecce on Sunday. France's Auxerre is the fourth team in what looks like the Champions League's 'Group of Death'.

Edu's Rangers will get a glamor trip south of the border to Old Trafford for a matchup with Manchester United. It also plays Valencia and Turkish champion Bursaspor.

Edu missed last year's group stage with a knee injury. Rangers went 0-4-2 and finished last. But he's gone the full 90 in each of Rangers' first two matches of the new Scottish Premier League season, both of which were victories.

Jones' Schalke 04 will face 2010 semifinalists Olympique Lyon, Portuguese champions Benfica (Freddy Adu's former club) and Israeli champion Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Jones, now recovered from his shin injury, went 90 minutes in Schalke's Bundesliga (a 2-1 loss to Hamburg) and German Cup (a 2-1 win over Aalen) openers, and could be called in for the U.S. national team's early October friendlies against Poland and Colombia.

The champions, Inter Milan, were drawn with Germany's Werder Bremen, English debutants Tottenham and surprise Dutch champion FC Twente. Inter swept UEFA's player-of-the-year awards, given out by position, with Argentine forward Diego Milito taking the big prize. He scored both goals in Inter's 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in the May 22 final.

The Champions League group stage kicks off Sept. 14-15 and will continue through Dec. 8, with each team playing the others in its group home and away. The top two will advance to next year's knockout rounds. Here's the full draw:

GROUP A
Inter Milan (Italy)
Werder Bremen (Germany)
Tottenham Hotspur (England)
FC Twente (Netherlands)

GROUP B
Olympique Lyon (France)
Benfica (Portugal)
Schalke 04 (Germany)
Hapoel Tel-Aviv (Israel)

GROUP C
Manchester United (England)
Valencia (Spain)
Rangers (Scotland)
Bursaspor (Turkey)

GROUP D
Barcelona (Spain)
Panathinaikos (Greece)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark)
Rubin Kazan (Russia)

GROUP E
Bayern Munich (Germany)
AS Roma (Italy)
FC Basel (Switzerland)
CFR Cluj (Romania)

GROUP F
Chelsea (England)
Olympique Marseille (France)
Spartak Moscow (Russia)
MSK Zilina (Slovakia)

GROUP G
AC Milan (Italy)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Ajax (Netherlands)
Auxerre (France)

GROUP H
Arsenal (England)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
SC Braga (Portugal)
FK Partizan (Serbia)