Tough draw bittersweet for Lennon
They were not alone among the British sides in being handed a difficult assignment, with Arsenal thrown into Group F alongside last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, Rafael Benitez’s Napoli and Marseille.
Manchester City will play reigning champions Bayern Munich as well as CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen in Group D.
Chelsea face two of the sides they conquered en route to last year’s Europa League success in Basle and Steaua Bucharest, as well as Schalke, in Group E.
David Moyes’ Champions League bow with Manchester United will come against Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Sociedad in Group A.
For Celtic the draw evokes memories of last season’s competition when they beat Barcelona 2-1 at Celtic Park last November.
Manager Neil Lennon said: “I think it is the best and the worst draw we could have got.
“In terms of glamour I don’t think it comes any better than Barcelona, Ajax and AC Milan.
“In terms of football it is probably the most difficult group we could have got.”
Arsenal qualified for the competition for a 16th successive season after completing a comprehensive play-off win over Fenerbahce this week.
Dortmund and Napoli will be the teams to fear in Group F, while Arsene Wenger’s men played the Germans and Marseille in their group two years ago.
Dortmund, though, are now much improved from the team that finished bottom of that section in 2011.
They impressed throughout their run to the final last year and were pipped to the title by Bayern Munich in a Wembley classic.
Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said: “It’s a fantastic, even group. It includes four teams who are all capable of going through.
“The fact is, we’ve got a bit of a score to settle with Arsenal and we also have some revenge to get on Marseille.”
For United and Chelsea, the tasks look much more straightforward and both will be favourites to top their groups.
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