Reaction to Champions League draw

Selected reaction to Thursday's Champions League draw:

AC MILAN (in group H with Celta Vigo, Ajax Amsterdam and Club Brugge)

"I'd give the group seven out of 10 for us," said Milan director Umberto Gandini.

"The toughest opponent is certainly Ajax, who we know very well having faced them in last season's quarter-finals. We also have a lot of respect for Bruges who are champions of Belgium and also for Celta Vigo."

LAZIO (in group G with Chelsea, Sparta Prague and Besiktas)

Luca Baraldi, Lazio managing director said: "We are very happy. For us the match with Chelsea will be a great occasion also because we will be up against two great former players in Hernan Crespo and Juan Veron."

"The other teams in the group also merit respect ... but we are capable of qualifying."

OLYMPIQUE LYON (in group A with Bayern Munich, Celtic and Anderlecht)

Coach Paul Le Guen said: "It's a group which looks a lot like last year's one. There are two clubs (Celtic and Anderlecht) who don't often make the front page of the newspapers but we must be wary."

"Celtic were UEFA Cup runners-up after eliminating Liverpool while Anderlecht are used to the Champions League. But obviously the favourites are Bayern Munich."

Last season Lyon were eliminated in the first phase and Le Guen added: "We must learn from that. Our public is waiting for us to achieve something. There is a great demand and we have to fulfill it."

REAL SOCIEDAD (in group D with Juventus, Galatasaray and Olympiakos)

Real Sociedad president Jose Luis Astiazaran told Radio Marca: "In principle we are optimistic because before we were picked out this group looked to be the best we could hope for."

"We will approach it with our customary humility and are determined to enjoy the experience of being in what is a new competition for us."

OLYMPIAKOS

Olympiakos coach Oleg Protasov smiled when Turkey's Galatasaray were drawn in the same group as his team. "It started well," he quipped. "It's a difficult group but I think we can do something here."

Olympiakos player Andreas Niniadis said: "God owed us something. That's why we got Juventus. We have something to settle with them."

Juventus scored a late equaliser against Olympiakos to eliminate them from the 1999 Champions League quarter-finals.

JUVENTUS

Vice-president Roberto Bettega said: "We are up against three tough sets of opponents that are very similar in their character."

"We meet some familar faces in Olympiakos and our former player Darko Kovacevic (Real Sociedad)."

"It is a draw that we can live with and I wouldn't say that we are unhappy with it."

PANATHINAIKOS (in group E with Manchester United, Rangers and VfB Stuttgart)

Coach Itzhak Shum said: "I love playing against Manchester ... everyone wants to do that. It's going to be a big game and I cannot forget the days (with Maccabi Haifa) last year. All opponents are strong teams but we have to win points if we want to go further in the competition."

PARTIZAN BELGRADE (in group F with Real Madrid, Porto and Olympique Marseille)

Coach Lothar Matthaeus said: "All three are great teams and all of them have won the European Cup. But if we give it our best shot, who knows, we might be in with a chance."

The former Germany captain was pleased that his side face favourites Real Madrid, saying: "They come around every 100 years or so, meaning that it will be a match of outstanding importance."

INTER MILAN (in group B with Arsenal, Dynamo Kiev and Lokomotiv Moscow)

Vice-president Giacinto Facchetti said: "We can be optimistic in this group. I don't know why it is being said that ours is the most difficult of the groups facing the Italian teams."

"We have to take into consideration that we weren't a top seed and so it could have been worse."