MANCHESTER UNITED and Chelsea declared themselves pleased last night after dodging a series of bullets during the draw for the Champions League group stage. Liverpool and Arsenal were also given cause for relief and the Premier League’s big four clubs must privately expect to fashion progress to the knock-out rounds.

United were unlucky to pull German champions Wolfsburg out of pot four, while Chelsea were given Atletico Madrid from pot three, but it could have been so much worse for the English clubs as Real Madrid, Inter and Juventus passed into different groups.

Real were drawn with Milan in Group C – so Kaka, one of Real’s star signings, will play against his old team – and Inter were paired with Barcelona in Group F. Jose Mourinho, the Inter manager, has history with his Catalan former employers from his time at Chelsea.

“Pot four was the interesting one and I think most teams would have preferred not to get the German champions but overall we have got to be happy,” said the United chief executive, David Gill, whose club will also face CSKA Moscow and Besiktas.

“We look forward to going back to Moscow, where we enjoyed such great scenes in 2008,” he said, referring to the Champions League final victory over Chelsea.

Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon, whose club have Porto and Cypriots Apoel, in addition to Atletico, said: “We will all be reasonably pleased with the draw.”

Arsenal drew AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos and Standard Liege. “We are playing the champions from the Dutch, Greek and Belgian leagues, three good leagues,” said chief executive Ian Gazidis.

“Some people will think this is an automatic pass for Arsenal but we don’t see it that way at all.”

Liverpool had a one-in-three chance of drawing Real but landed Lyon from pot two. Fiorentina and the Hungarian champions Debreceni complete their group. Guardian Service