Chelsea face "not an easy draw at all" after they were placed in a Champions League group with Porto, Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Tel Aviv, former Blues goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini says.
Manager Jose Mourinho is intimately familiar with Porto, having led them to the European title in 2004.
The Blues managed to avoid the elite Madrid clubs that were in Pot 2, but Cudicini, who attended the draw in his role as global ambassador for Chelsea, insisted that Porto will be every bit as difficult.
"Porto is a club that Jose knows very well of course, and they are a club that does very well in the transfer market," Cudicini said. "They sell a lot of players but keep replacing them with other good players and stay in the Champions League every year.
Chelsea also face long trips to Ukraine and Israel over the next four months.
Maccabi Tel Aviv may appear to be the easiest of their opponents, but Cudicini said their new manager -- his former Chelsea teammate Slavisa Jokanovic -- will have them prepared for an English club after leading Watford to Premier League promotion last season.
"This not an easy draw at all -- I don't think going to Tel Aviv and Kiev are easy trips," Cudicini said.
"Maccabi are champions of Israel with a manager who is an ex-Chelsea [player] and knows English football very well."
Jokanovic posted a photo of his time at Chelsea on Twitter, saying he was looking forward to the London trip.
It'll be a pleasure to go back to London to face my former club @ChelseaFC. It'll be a special game. #UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/U1savHXLJr
- Slavisa Jokanovic (@Jokanovic) August 27, 2015
Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta said he was confident the team would adapt to the long trips ahead of them.
"We know how difficult the Champions League is," he told Chelsea's website. "We are playing against three very good teams who will make it hard for us, so we have to make sure we start really well, fight for our place and try to be top of the group.
"It's true we have two long trips but if you're travelling you have to adapt to play around Europe. We will try to do that and not feel it."