Fergie: City are in Champions League 'group of death'

Sir Alex Ferguson says Manchester City have been drawn in the "group of death" in their debut Champions League campaign.

City, unseeded in the draw, find themselves in a group with four-times winners Bayern Munich, Napoli and Villarreal, in the competition which kicks off next week.

And Manchester United boss Ferguson, whose own side were handed a favourable draw by comparison, said Napoli posed a major threat to City's chances of progressing to the knockout stage.

"It's a tough group that - the group of death," said Ferguson, speaking to Italian media in Rome this week.

"Napoli are in the toughest group. It's a very difficult group.

"If Napoli survive that, they'll have a right chance. It's not impossible.

"The atmosphere in Napoli is very volatile. With 75,000 to 80,000 [in the stadium], it's a great atmosphere."

In contrast to City's tough draw, United should progress with ease from their group, which also includes Benfica, FC Basel and Otelul Gulati, making their debut in the competition.

"You hope, every time the draw comes out - and we're always a seed of course - that you don't have a lot of travel," said Ferguson.

"But because there are so many Ukrainian teams, Russian teams and Turkish teams, travel is quite long, you know?

"So we looked at our group. We got Benfica, fine, two hours [flight], Basle, one-and-a-half hours, and the other trip to Bucharest is two-and-a-half hours.

"So that was one plus point. The second thing is to get 10 points. Aim for 10 points, because that guarantees you progress."