Champions League Group Stages - The Draw & all the Banter

[all_funkt_up]

I do love the draw for the group stages of the Champions League. Though the pre-draw tension and build up is just as exciting. Looking at the different pots and trying to suss out who you can end up with is half the fun.

Here's the pots as they stand - a group comprises one team from each pot. And no 2 teams from the same country may be drawn together. Simple....




POT 1:
AC Milan 133.808 TH
FC Barcelona 119.374 ESP2
Liverpool FC 112.618 ENG3
FC Internazionale Milano 107.808 ITA1
Arsenal FC 104.618 ENG4
Real Madrid CF 104.374 ESP1
Manchester United 99.618 ENG1
Chelsea FC 99.618 ENG2

POT 2:
Valencia CF 99.374 ESP4
Olympique Lyonnais 95.706 FRA1
FC Porto 89.107 POR1
Sevilla FC / AEK Athens * 87.374 ESP3
PSV Eindhoven 81.995 NED1
AS Roma 78.808 ITA2
SL Benfica 67.107 POR3
Werder Bremen 63.64 GER3

POT 3:
Celtic FC 62.064 SCO1
FC Schalke 04 60.64 GER2
VfB Stuttgart 58.64 GER1
FC Steaua Bucuresti 55.255 ROU2
PFC CSKA Moskva 53.92 RUS1
Sporting Clube de Portugal 52.107 POR2
S.S. Lazio 51.808 ITA3
Olympique de Marseille 51.706 FRA2

POT 4:
Rangers FC 47.064 SCO2
Shakhtar Donetsk 44.726 UKR2
Besiktas JK 43.791 TUR2
Olympiacos CFP 42.415 GRE1
FC Dynamo Kyiv 38.726 UKR1
Fenerbahce 36.791 TUR1
Slavia Prague 32.851 CZE2
Rosenborg BK 31.509 NOR1

[crowie]

Would take

Arsenal (who ever we get in pot 1, we're fucked!)
Benfica/PSV/Porto

and please god, Rosenborg

[all_funkt_up]

Lyon, Marseille and Olympiakos would do me very nicely.

Oh, just realised we couldnt play the 2 French teams, errr Lyon, Steaua Bucuresti & Olympiakos then. Yeah that'd do for me.

Some nice places to visit and get away to in the Autumn months.

Fingers crossed.

[Bigkegman]

for Rangers I think the best draw would be Marseille and Werder Bremen cause like Crowie anybody from Pot 1 no chance.

Glad we cant get the likes of Fenerbache and Besiktas - tricky ties

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Pot 1 is a fucking disaster isn't it

From Pot 2 i would take either Lyon, PSV or Bremen. 3 sides who have lost their best players season after season and are now finally beginning to be looking like its taken its toll on the clubs.

Still possess some quality but shadow of the sides from previous years.

Pot 4 is bloody tricky too ain't it. Possibly the trickiest CL group pots there has been for a while?

Whatever happens i know two things. Celtic will a harder group than Rangers and they will also get a absolutely nightmare group

[crowie]

Originally Posted by Kiko

Pot 1 is a fucking disaster isn't it

From Pot 2 i would take either Lyon, PSV or Bremen. 3 sides who have lost their best players season after season and are now finally beginning to be looking like its taken its toll on the clubs.

Still possess some quality but shadow of the sides from previous years.

Pot 4 is bloody tricky too ain't it. Possibly the trickiest CL group pots there has been for a while?

Whatever happens i know two things. Celtic will a harder group than Rangers and they will also get a absolutely nightmare group

Least we can't get the mentalness of Milan and Barca in the same group like a couple of years ago. And fecking big spending Shakhtar as the "diddy" team


I am hoping Rangers get a nice easy group like Barca/Real, Roma and Schalke/Stuttgart

[WeegieDave]

Sky Sports | Football | Champions League | Live Draw 4pm Thursday 30th August 2007

draw live here

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Celtic definately have one of the easier groups so far, thats for sure!

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Fuck me - Rangers could be in trouble here.

There are some really really tough groups to go into here for them.

Group C and G the best left for them.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Jesus, thats a fucking tough tough group for Rangers.

I am hoping Celtic get either Rosenborg or Prague here and they will have gotten out lightly.

[WeegieDave]

Think someone told me that due to the tv things with red and blue sides of the draw, Rangers could only have ended up in E or H. I'd have taken H tbh.

D'OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





Celtic with a decent draw tbh although could have done better than Shahktar as the last team.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Group A
LIVERPOOL
Porto
Marseille
Besiktas


Group B
CHELSEA
Valencia
Schalke 04
Rosenborg


Group C
REAL MADRID
Werder Bremen
Lazio
Olympiakos


Group D
AC MILAN
Benfica
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk


Group E
BARCELONA
Lyon
Stuttgart
Rangers


Group F
MANCHESTER UNITED
Roma
Sporting Lisbon
Dynamo Kiev


Group G
INTER MILAN
PSV Eindhoven
CSKA Moscow
Fenerbahce

Group H
ARSENAL
Sevilla/AEK Athens
Steau Bucharest
Slavia Prague

[WeegieDave]

On the plus side, its easy as fuck to get to our away games............

[Bigkegman]

what a fecking hopeless draw for Rangers. Dont think it could have been any harder !!!!

Going to be good to see them teams at Ibrox mind you but dont fancy having a guess to see how many points well get.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Well as usual Liverpool always seem to get one of the easier groups. Arsenal's group is ok and they shouldnt have problems. Chelsea the same although bar Rosenborg Schalke and Valencia will be tough.

I worry for United though. With their lack of striking power they could have a very tough group with every team capable of taking points off them.

Rangers group is an absolute nightmare. You have the Spanish, German and French champs

Doesnt get any tougher than that does it? I dont rate Rangers too much too and i can see them getting a bit of a doing.

As for Celtic - BORING!!

We have played these the last few seasons. Nevermind. Celtic certainly capable of getting through though although the 4th seed could have been kinder.

Home form will be a huge factor and hopefully Strachan can get a couple of quality signings in.

Milan are quality although another year passed on whats a pretty old group of players isn't it?

Shakthar and Benfica tough games but they aren't the quality they have been down the years imo.

After seeing the other groups im pretty happy with that for sure.