Real Madrid's Champions League group stage fixtures confirmed

Real Madrid's group stage opponents for this season's Champions League have been confirmed, with the Spanish giants set to take on Inter, Shakhtar Donetsk and Sheriff Tiraspol in Group D.

Like bitter rivals Barcelona, Real Madrid have often been included in pot one of UEFA's draws for the Champions League, but last season's failures in La Liga and Europe's elite club competition mean they were down in pot two.

Real's exact fixtures against each team will be confirmed in due course, but for now it looks like they've been handed a generally kind draw.

It remains to be seen what type of Inter side they will face this season, given the turnover in both coaching and playing staff the club has overseen during the summer. Shakhtar gave Real a tough time in last year's competition, beating and drawing with them in the group stage, but Carlo Ancelotti's side will still be favourites for both games. Sheriff Tiraspol are the group's major underdogs, with this year being the first time they have ever reached this stage of the competition.

Real are the most successful team ever in the Champions League, having won the competition a mammoth 13 times. That includes a brilliant run during the 2010s, when they won it four times in five seasons.

However, recent seasons have been trickier.

The Madrid outfit have been knocked out at the last 16 stage in two of the last three seasons, though they did reach the semi finals in the most recent edition of the competition, when they were dispatched by eventual winners Chelsea.