Tottenham Hotspur will face an uphill battle in the 2017-18 Champions League group stages. Spurs were drawn into Group H alongside defending champions Real Madrid, Dortmund, and Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia. The draw took place in Monaco.

We knew Spurs being in Pot 3 gave them a very good chance of landing in a tough group, and the draw did not disappoint. Real Madrid are defending champions and one of the best clubs in the world, but the good (?) news is that we get to play them at Wembley Stadium in front of what promises to be a raucous pro-Spurs crowd.

Dortmund is always difficult, but they’re without Thomas Tuchel and likely without their star striker Ousmane Dembele, who is linked with a late summer transfer. Still, you don’t have to look far to see how Spurs fared the last time they played Dortmund: Spurs lost twice to them in the 2015-16 Europa League Round of 16.

The saving grace is APOEL Nicosia, which is a minnow in just about every sense of the word. Spurs shouldn’t have too much trouble taking points off of them at least.

Still, this is a VERY tough group for Spurs to land in, though not as tough as it might have been. It’ll be made tougher in that they’ll have to play the first three matches without Dele Alli, who was red-carded in Spurs’ 1-1 elimination tie against Gent last season. But, hey — it’s the Champions League. If you don’t want to play the best teams, why are you even here?

There’s no clear-cut Group of Death, but you can make a strong argument that it’s either Spurs’ Group H, or Group C, which features Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Roma, and Qarabag. The full draw is listed below.

What do you think of the draw? How do you think Spurs will fare? To the comments!

Full 2017-18 Champions League Draw

Group A

• Benfica
• Manchester United
• Basel
• CSKA Moscow

Group B

• Bayern Munich
• Paris St. Germain
• Anderlecht
• Celtic

Group C

• Chelsea
• Atletico Madrid
• Roma
• Qarabag

Group D

• Juventus
• Barcelona
• Olimpiacos
• Sporting Lisbon

Group E

• Spartak Moscow
• Sevilla
• Liverpool
• Maribor

Group F

• Shaktar Donetsk
• Manchester City
• Napoli
• Feyenoord

Group G

• Monaco
• Porto
• Besiktas
• RB Leipzig

Group H

• Real Madrid
• Dortmund
• Tottenham Hotspur
• APOEL

UPDATE: UEFA released the fixture dates for the group stage matches. Here they are. Mark your calendars and get ready to call off sick at work!