Champions League Draw 2011: AC Milan Draw Barcelona in Group H

The other day, Massimiliano Allegri declared that the only team better than AC Milan is current European champions Barcelona.

Between now and December, his side will get the opportunity to test their wits against Barcelona on two occasions.

The draw for the group stage of the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League was announced today, with the titleholders and the Rossoneri both drawn in Group H.

It will be the first meeting between the two sides in the Champions League since the 2005/06 semifinals. A Ludovic Giuly goal at the San Siro gave Barcelona all they needed in a 1-0 aggregate victory. They went on to beat Arsenal in the final.

The Champions League began on July 22. Many teams had already earned entry to the group stage from their performances in their domestic leagues during the 2010/11 season.

For the last two months, 54 teams from each European first division have been competing in head-to-head matchups to earn one of 10 remaining spots in the group stage.

The final 32 have been placed into eight groups of four. From September through December, the clubs will face each other twice, once at home and once on the road. In the end, the top two sides in each group will advance to the knockout stage, with the third-place team dropping into the UEFA Europa League, while fourth place will be left with only their domestic league to play for.

Despite being drawn against without doubt the greatest club on the planet, Milan should face relatively little difficulty getting to the last 16.

The two giants have been drawn with minnows on the European stage, in BATE Borisov (Belarus) and Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic).

BATE Borisov, led by top scorers Renan Bressan and Maksim Skavysh, stormed through the Belarusian Premier League with far and away the top offense and defense in the league.

Dominating in the Belarusian Premier League is not really an indicator of how capable a team will be in the Champions League, though. They qualified for the group stage after handling Linfield (Northern Ireland), Ekranas (Lithuania) and Sturm Graz (Austria) in the second, third and playoff rounds of qualifying, but their road will likely end in the group stage.

The Czech champions Viktoria Plzen faced some more experienced European competition in their qualifying path. They routed Pyunik (Armenia) in the second round, before knocking off Rosenborg (Norway) and Copenhagen (Denmark) in the last two rounds.

The battle between Barcelona and Milan will be very interesting. Barcelona are hands down the best team in the world, with their brilliant possession style of play that won them the 2008/09 and 2010/11 Champions League tournaments.

With newcomers Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas, Barcelona are looking primed for a repeat.

Milan enter their third group stage in as many years alongside a Spanish giant (they have finished second to Real Madrid in each of the last two seasons).

Milan's possession play has been considered a slower version of Barcelona's game. The Rossoneri feature a star-studded attack including Alexandre Pato, Robinho, Antonio Cassano and former Barcelona forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Their defense is one of the best in Europe. In fact, Barcelona courted center-back Thiago Silva earlier this summer, but the star has committed himself to Milan through 2016.

Both clubs will come in confident, and while Barcelona will be the favorites, Milan will fight for that top spot. Allegri's men, when healthy, are among the best in the game and today's acquisition of Alberto Aquilani makes the midfield much more dangerous.

Group H is nowhere near the group of death, but the battle for top spot will be fun to watch.