Champions League Draw
The draw for the group stage of the Champions League was made yesterday and the English clubs have got to be really pleased with the results, particularly Arsenal who have avoided the big boys and any tricky Eastern European treks. Here's the draw in full: Group A: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa.
Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg.
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich.
Group D: Chelsea, Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL Nicosia.
Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debreceni.
Group F: Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan.
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni.
Group H: Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard Liege.
posted by The Blue Devil @ 9:17 AM
4 Comments:
C&E look like groups of death!
If they keep playing the way they have, Arsenal shold advance with little difficulty.
C&E look tough, no doubt. But I'd put forward Group F as the Group of Death.
Barca are certainly the favorites but Mourinho's Inter can't be discounted. Then you get Kiev, who can either be brilliant or stripped of resources. Add to that the tricky away fixtures in Ukraine and Russia.
So, how do you rate the chances for your old enemy Rangers in Group G?
SS, your man Mowbry is to be commended for the way he's resisted the torch and pitchfork squad after our Eddie.
Group H, if we can't finish at least second in that, we don't deserve to advance. That's as kind a draw as I can remember; no big boys, only one long away fixture and no 9-hour flights to Central Asia to play Kazan in mid December.
United should be okay as long as their trip to CSKA isn't in the mix of tricky Premiership fixtures and in the dead of winter. I think they may have a plastic pitch so that's a bit of a worry. Wolfsburg had a fire sale after they won the Bundesliga so I'm not expecting them to be the surprise they were.
Chelsea should finish at least second if they remain in the form they've shown since the preseason.
Group F is up for grabs. Kiev will be at their peak, and they definitely play on a plastic pitch. Kazan is some 6-7 hours away even on a chartered flight and I bet it's starting to get parky already. And Barca and Inter could take chunks out of each other putting them both in trouble.
I'd guess out of A, it will be Munich and Juve, B, United and CSKA, C, Real and Milan, D, Chelsea and Athletico, E, Lyon, and Liverpool, but just, F, Inter and Barca, G, Stuttgart, and Sevilla, H, Arsenal and Alkmaar.
I like the draw for United except for all the travel!
We have big games like Chelsea and Costa after the trips
I still see all English teams going through easily
I would say the Group of Death is C and F
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