2014-2015 UEFA Champions League Draw (1)

In early September 2014, the Grimaldi Conference Centre in Monaco blazed with light as the world looked on.

The European Golden Shoe ceremony in London had barely ended. Li Yufei, who had made football history by winning the award four years running, had scarcely had time to bask in his latest triumph before he traveled with the team to UEFA headquarters for the 2014–2015 UEFA Champions League Group Stage draw.

Europe's finest, fiercest and most unforgiving club competition was about to begin anew, with countless fans waiting eagerly for the curtain to rise.

Over the past four years, Arsenal's reign over the UEFA Champions League had been seared into every fan's memory.

Since rising to the summit in the 2010–2011 season, the Gunners had swept across Europe with unrivaled strength, claiming an unprecedented four consecutive UEFA Champions League titles.

Over those four years, countless European giants had fallen before Arsenal. Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus had challenged them in turn, only to leave empty-handed.

Four straight Premier League titles alongside four straight UEFA Champions League crowns had firmly established Arsenal as the foremost dynasty in world football, a dominant force feared by every team in Europe.

That unshakable supremacy also meant Arsenal entered this season's draw as the defending champions and a top-seeded team. They received the highest seeding and first priority in the group draw.

Tonight's ceremony brought together all thirty-two teams in the UEFA Champions League proper, including the leading clubs from the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and Portuguese League.

Senior UEFA officials, football legends, head coaches and star players from the major clubs had all arrived. The hall was packed with famous faces, and the occasion was grand.

As the finest player in football today, Arsenal's undisputed star and