Bayern and Juve await rematch

FC Bayern München and Juventus are primed for their fifth and sixth meetings in European club competition after being drawn together for the third time in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Familiar surroundings
Bayern and Juve met in back-to-back group stages in 2004/05 and 2005/06, with the Italian side getting the better of their encounters, enjoying three wins to Bayern's one. That first campaign also saw them come up against Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC, the last Israeli side to compete in the group stage prior to Maccabi Haifa FC's qualification this time round. Neither Juve or Bayern have played Haifa before, but both of their games against Maccabi Tel-Aviv took place at the Ramat Gan Stadium, where Haifa will play their home games in Europe this season. Bordeaux, meanwhile, lost to Juventus in the 1984/85 European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals and to Bayern in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup final.

Uli Hoeness, Bayern general manager
It's a very tough group with strong opponents and they will test us to our limits. Nowadays, the Champions League consists purely of strong teams. We have to be careful against Bordeaux, as they are the French champions and can play skilful football. We can definitely not underestimate Maccabi, who qualified for the group stages comfortably against FC Salzburg. I'm particularly looking forward to the game against Juventus, since Hasan Salihamidžić still plays for them. He is a good friend and called me immediately after the draw to say how much he was looking forward to seeing us back in Munich.

Ciro Ferrara, Juventus coach
We wanted to avoid English and Spanish teams, but our group is difficult and even anyway. Bayern are very strong and we could have been luckier as Bordeaux are also dangerous. It will be good to meet Laurent Blanc again as I played with him at SSC Napoli. I know it will be very tough against him and the same can be said for the game against an experienced coach like Bayern's Louis van Gaal

Laurent Blanc, Bordeaux coach
Bayern and Juventus will certainly revive good memories to fans here – Les Girondins have had epic ties against both. Maccabi Haifa are a bit of an unknown. We are not disappointed by what we have been faced with. I cannot tell how much chance we have of going through. In this, every smart person would give Bayern and Juventus the nod, but let's see if we can play the role of dark horses.

Shlomi Arbeitman, Maccabi Haifa striker
It's a very tough draw as we will be up against some of Europe's strongest sides, but I still think we can make our mark. Don't rule us out too early. We are all excited to facing the likes of Bayern, Juventus and Bordeaux, but we have a great coach in Elisha Levi who knows how to get us ready. We need to win matches so why shouldn't we think positive? If Haifa managed to beat Manchester United and Olympiacos in 2002/03 then we can beat any team.