Preview: UEFA Champions League Draw (2012/13)

Real Madrid will find out the three rivals they will have to face in the Group Stage of the Champions League 2012/13. The Whites, the top seeds, will not be able to play against Spanish teams or teams which form part of drum A in the draw, which UEFA will do at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, at 5:45 pm (CET). It is the start of Real Madrid's march towards the final, which will be played on the 25th of May at Wembley Stadium. The debut of the competition's most titled team will take place on the 18th and 19th of September.

The whole of Europe will be watching the draw for the Champions League this evening to be held in Montecarlo. The great performance of Real Madrid in the Supercopa of Spain has warned the other thirty teams of the continent aspiring to reach the final on Saturday 25 May at Wembley.

Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit Saint Petersburg, Schalke 04, Manchester City, Sporting de Braga and Dynamo Kiev, from drum B. Olympiakos, Ajax, Anderlecht, Juventus, Spartak Moscow, PSG, Lille and Galatasaray, from drum C. And Celtic, Borussia Dortmund, Bate Borisov, Dinamo Zagreb, Cluj, Montpellier and Nordsjaelland, from drum D, are all potential rivals for Rival Madrid.

On the way to the final there will be pitfalls. And from today. The most dangerous rivals today are Manchester City, which is in drum B, and the PSG and Juventus, which will depart from the drum C. Manchester City and PSG are two teams that have been strengthened in recent years. With the help of petro-dollars they want to sneak into the final at Wembley. Juventus has never been an easy opponent and Borussia Dortmund, winning the last two Bundesliga titles, is the danger of drum D.

Drums: UEFA Champions League Draw 2012-2013

Together with Real Madrid, 11 champions will be in the drum of Europe's top competition: Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Oporto, Milan, Benfica, Ajax, Juventus, Dortmund and Celtic (only the last five teams can go against the Whites in this Group Stage). Therefore, more than a third of the 32 teams which will be in the draw already know what it is like to win the European Cup. Last season there were 11 ex-champions, 10 in 2010/11 and nine in 2009/2010.

Furthermore, three teams will debut in the Champions League: French club Montpellier, Danish club Nordsjaelland and Spanish team Malaga. Spain and England are the most represented countries with four teams.