Barça resume Chelsea rivalry

Group A saw holders FC Barcelona drawn to play English champions Chelsea FC, Werder Bremen of Germany and Bulgarian title-holders PFC Levski Sofia. It will be the fourth time Barça and Chelsea have met in the UEFA Champions League, and their third encounter in as many seasons, while Bremen also tackled Frank Rijkaard's team last term, losing both matches, 3-1 at the Camp Nou and 2-0 at the Weserstadion.

Bulgarian debutants
By contrast, Levski are UEFA Champions League debutants, whose only previous date with Barcelona came in the 1975 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, with the Catalans prevailing 9-4 on aggregate. Chelsea took on the Bulgarian side more recently in the same competition, running out 5-0 aggregate winners in the 2000/01 campaign. Levski fared better against Bremen, though, in the second round of the 1992/93 UEFA Cup when they edged through 3-2 on aggregate.

Stanimir Stoilov, Levski coach
This is our destiny. I have nothing more to say about the draw. Barcelona, Chelsea and Werder - everyone knows everything about them. Barcelona are reigning European champions, Chelsea are one of the red-hot favourites and Werder are also strong. But we will go out and try to give our best. We will keep on dreaming.

Peter Kenyon, Chelsea chief executive
We have great respect for Barcelona, and we have a good relationship with them, so I hope people concentrate on the football. This is what the Champions League is about at the end of the day. Fans want to see us against the big teams and they don't come much bigger than Barcelona. But we shouldn't overlook the other sides. Werder Bremen have had a good start to the season. It's a big group.

Thomas Schaaf, Bremen coach
In Chelsea and Barcelona, we have two big favourites for the title. Everyone is counting on those two sharing first and second place in the group, so we are competing for third place with Levski Sofia. Apart from that, we will try to annoy the favourites a little.

Aitor 'Txiki' Beguiristain, Barcelona sporting director
This is the third successive meeting between us and Chelsea, and it guarantess that we won't meet in the last 16. With Levski Sofia, even discounting their physical strength, we will have to tread carefully. The team that commits an error will pay dearly for it. We have to be prepared to suffer as well as to enjoy ourselves, and this team is prepared to suffer.