Mysterious east calls for Madrid and Juve, Real Madrid in The UEFA CHampions League.

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Group H
Real Madrid
Juventus
Zenit St Petersburg
BATE

Real Madrid CF and Juventus are pondering tricky trips east to Russia and Belarus after the draw for the UEFA Champions League group stage in Monaco set them up with ties against UEFA Cup holders FC Zenit St. Petersburg and rank outsiders FC BATE Borisov in Group H. The Spanish and Italian sides are well aware of each other's reputations but will be making something of a journey into the unknown against Zenit and BATE – with these teams making their first appearances in the group stage of a major competition.

Predrag Mijatović, Madrid sporting director
With this type of draw, in a big competition like this, you cannot predict anything. To win the Champions League you have to beat the best. Having a difficult group is better in order to start stronger and gain an edge on your rivals. Juventus are a big team and with them there is little you can say – they're always dangerous and they'll be hungry to compete in this competition having not done so last season. Zenit are a team of the moment. They won the UEFA Cup and are competing in the UEFA Super Cup – there's a lot of quality there. BATE Borisov must be respected because they are capable of causing an upset.

Claudio Ranieri, Juventus coach
I think it will be difficult for every team in the group. Facing Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu is always a great feeling and not only for players who are going there for the first time. Zenit are not having a great season in Russia but I'm surprised because they had a fantastic year when they won the league and the UEFA Cup. Recently they spent €30m on a young Portuguese player [Danny] who was the best player in the Russian league. It says everything about their ambition. BATE Borisov are also a good team. As I said, it will be difficult for every side.

Maksim Mitrofanov, Zenit chief executive
Zenit are up against great opponents in Real, Juventus and BATE. We are by no means scared, though I cannot say we are particularly delighted. The draw makes us determined to strive for victory because our main task is to get bigger as a football club, and these are the sort of teams we need to play well against to show our class to everyone else. We have to look to make it out of the group. I would not make any predictions but I am sure there will be surprises. Everyone bet against us against Villarreal [CF], Bayer [04 Leverkusen] and [FC] Bayern [München last season], but we won the UEFA Cup anyway, and we are not going to lose ground now.

Viktor Goncharenko, BATE coach
What a fantastic group! It is a pleasure and a great honour for us that such decorated clubs are coming to Belarus. Real and Juventus are the most successful teams in Spain and Italy, real world-class teams. They are packed with players of the highest standard – true stars of the game. UEFA Cup holders Zenit are also a very exciting side. We are very lucky that Belarussian fans will get to see such quality clubs playing in front of their own eyes. In football anything can happen. It will be difficult to win against such big teams, but I promise we will compete in every game. We are not going to give up without a fight.

[lyndseydeanpys]

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