Champions League newcomers

Leicester are preparing for their maiden campaign in the Champions League having stormed to the Premier League title last season.

The Foxes will learn their fate in Thursday afternoon’s group stage draw in Monaco, which you can follow live on Sky Sports digital platforms.

From Bayer Leverkusen to Tottenham, here are five previous Champions League newcomers who impressed in their first seasons in the competition.

Bayer LeverkusenQuarter-finals in 1997/98

Founded by employees of pharmaceutical company Bayer in 1904, Leverkusen are nevertheless a relatively new force in Germany, not reaching the Bundesliga until 1979. However, they have made quite an impression since and remain Champions League regulars.

So often the Bundesliga bridesmaids (they have finished second five times and never won the competition), the club is perhaps most famous for its extraordinary 2001/02 season under Klaus Toppmoller when they came second in the league, cup and Champions League.

But their first foray into Europe’s premier club competition also went well. Leverkusen qualified for the quarter-finals as the best runner-up in the group stage and it took a second-leg defeat to eventual winners Real Madrid to bring their debut campaign to an end.

LazioQuarter-finals in 1999/00

Sven-Goran Eriksson was Lazio’s manager when they embarked on their first season in the Champions League with a star-studded squad containing Roberto Mancini, Diego Simeone, Juan Sebastian Veron and Alessandro Nesta.

They went through the first group stage unbeaten against …

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