City are the first stumbling block towards the reconquest

Manchester City. No more and no less than Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. Claudio Bravo's too!

The English team will be the first big stumbling block that FC Barcelona will have to overcome on their path towards the reconquest of the Champions League, disappointingly lost last season. 

A Manchester City under construction that have been drawn in Group C with the Blaugrana, along with Borussia Monchengladbach and Celtic.

A Group C that it can't be said will be difficult. Barça should qualify comfortably, and should do so as group winners. That is the objective of Luis Enrique's men. The pairings for the last 16 will arrive in time, when the team will encounter much more difficult opposition.

Because the reality of the Champions League is this: the group phase leaves a lot to be desired. With 32 teams involved, there are lot of second-rate outfits. Even third-rate: Ludogorets, Rostov, Copenhagen, Legia Warsaw...

If Barça have had an easy draw (relatively easy), Real Madrid have had it, yet again, even easier, a 'joke' of a draw. The current holders, who had an extraordinarily comfortbale passage to the final last season, will begin their title defence without any difficulty. 

The 'heated balls' worked again.