Champion League Draw

I sit here and type this just as the Champion League group stage draw begins, and I actually feel a bit of excitement at the prospect of who Liverpool might draw.  Many people pray for the easiest draw possible, but I’m the opposite to that.  I want to play the biggest names possible, after all, big European nights are what turn you from a big club in to a massive club.  Of course, as a football fan, I like to be able to moan when other English clubs end up in a much easier group than ourselves…I’m only human.

Liverpool were out of the hat first and are in Group E. I’ll deal with that group first and then the others in order.

Group E

Liverpool

Lyon

Fiorentina

Debrecen

It’s not an easy group by any means, but it could have been worse.  Although we haven’t drawn any huge sides, it should be a good competitive group  - although can’t say I know a great deal about Debrecen.

Group A

Bayern Munich

Juventus

Bordeaux

Maccabi Haifa

Bayern and Juventus should provide a couple of ‘glamour’ ties in the group but it’s not one that inspires great interest in me.

Group B

Manchester United

CSKA Moscow

Besiktas

Wolfsburg

The traditional easy group for Manchester United.  Only joking, trips to Russia and Turkey are never easy and Wolfsburg are the German champions. You’d think that the Mancs will get through though.

Group C

AC Milan

Real Madrid

Marseille

FC Zurich

There’s a couple of the ‘glamour’ sides in this group, and it will be interesting to see how Real Madrid get on in a competitive group.

Group D

Chelsea

FC Porto

Atletico Madrid

Apoel Nicosia

Quite a tough group for Chelsea, but then there don’t look to be any easy groups this year.

Group F

Barcelona

Inter Milan

Dynamo Kiev

Rubin Kazan

Maybe the most interesting group, two of the big names and the chance for Jose Mourinho to pit his wits against last season’s all conquering Barcelona.  Throw in to the mix a couple of Eastern European teams, where people don’t like to travel to, and you’ve got a very interesting group indeed.

Group G

Sevilla

Rangers

Stuttgart

Unirea Urziceni

It could have been worse for Rangers, and they stand at least a fighting chance of getting out of the group.

Group H

Arsenal

AZ Alkmaar

Olympiakos

Standard Liege

If Arsenal play anything like, then they should power through this group.

All in all, it’s difficult to pick out an easy group in that whole competition with at least two decent sides in each group and a few unknown quantities thrown in to mix things up.  My thoughts on each group are based on snap judgements based on a) if I’ve heard of the club before, and b) if they come from a renowned footballing country.  This obviously is not a bulletproof method of analysis and I certainly don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of Europe’s form sides.  The only way to know for sure is for the matches to be played. I can’t wait.