Liverpool handed favourable draw for Champions League

Liverpool fans are eagerly awaiting the start of the Champions League campaign after the Reds were drawn to face Lyon, Fiorentina and Debreceni in Group E.

The draw poses interesting challenges as Liverpool have never previously met any of their Group E opponents in European competition.

Lyon failed to win the French league for the first time in eight years last season and have since lost their star striker Karim Benzema to Real Madrid, while Italian outfit Fiorentina are back in Europe's elite club competition after beating Sporting Lisbon in the qualifying round.
Debreceni, champions of Hungary, are making their Champions League debut.

Liverpool will be happy with the draw as they appear to have a relatively easier group compared with their English Premier league rivals Manchester United and Chelsea – the former face long distance trips to CSKA Moscow and Besiktas, and also have last season’s German champions Wolfsburg in their group, while the latter will face tough tests against strong opponents FC Porto and Atletico Madrid. However, Arsenal appears to have the easiest draw with only AZ Alkmaar and Olympiakos standing between them and the knockout stages.

Rafael Benitez's side will be looking to improve on last season's performance in Europe when they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Chelsea.

The Reds will kick off their campaign at home to Debreceni on September 16 before travelling to Fiorentina. A double header with Lyon will then follow before we visit the Hungarians and then conclude the group fixtures at home to Fiorentina.

The dates are as follows:
Sep 16 Debreceni (H)
Sep 29 Fiorentina (A)
Oct 20 Lyon (H)
Nov 4 Lyon (A)
Nov 24 Debreceni (A)
Dec 9 Fiorentina (H)