UEFA Champions League

Having warded off interest from Barcelona and Sevilla to sign a rejuvenated Hatem Ben Arfa, Paris Saint-Germain appeared to be the perfect destination for the mercurial 29-year-old playmaker. Ben Arfa signed for PSG as a free agent after experiencing a renaissance last year with Nice, tallying 17 goals and six assists in Ligue 1.

This all, of course, followed a tumultuous four years in England where he was part footballing genius, part disinterested delinquent.

Yaya Toure reportedly told Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola back in May that he was determined to fight for his future at the club and see out the remaining year of his contract.

The pot just got bigger for clubs in the UEFA Champions League — a lot bigger.

The Champions League groups were drawn in Mónaco on Thursday but the big news was the unveiling of the official match ball for the competition. The ball keeps the traditional star figures, this time in green, but it’s the writing in the stars that’s sure to capture the attention.

The stars have characterized the official Champions League ball in recent years, of course, accompanied by the logo of this UEFA tournament.

UEFA have tweaked the Champions League rules to benefit the big clubs and the big leagues. This comes as a surprise to approximately nobody.

Per ESPNFC:

Pep Guardiola doesn't coach Barcelona anymore (he'll stop by the Camp Nou for a visit with Manchester City in the UCL group stage), but the Blaugrana can still tiki-taka teams to death.

During last season's UCL group stage, they did their whole "death by 1,000 paper cuts" routine on Roma and it won UEFA's Goal of the Season award. Messi, the finisher, is technically the recipient, but we think the whole damn team should get a trophy for that move.

A quick word about the actual Champions League draw: it's a big dumb ceremony that needs some fixing, but will never be fixed because UEFA will never, ever admit that something is bad enough to need fixing. Anyway, the groups have been announced, and there's some fun stuff in here.

Group A: PSG, Arsenal, Basel, Ludogorets Razgrad

— The18 (@the18soccer) August 25, 2016

There are no easy matches in the Champions League — or are there? According to Barcelona’s Gerard Pique, Real Madrid got the rub of the green with regards to Champions League draws last season. 

Real Madrid’s route to the final included victories over clubs that were, at the time, hardly at the top of their domestic leagues. So, when a fan asked Pique via Twitter what he’d like to see from Thursday’s group stage draw, Pique couldn’t resist a very obvious dig at Real:

Everyone’s got a soft spot in their heart for AS Roma, apart from Lazio supporters of course. The club represents the Eternal City, the Italian capital with a history spanning more than two and a half thousand years. Its standing as one of the birthplaces of Western civilization makes anyone’s three-day visit turn into conversational fodder for the rest of their lifetime.