(Soccer) UEFA Champs League draw today

[SirFozzie]

Interesting...

Here's what it looks like

A
Deportivo
Liverpool
Monaco
Olympiakos

Wow.. looks a bit tough for Liverpool.. I think Deportivo and Monaco to survive

B
Real Madrid
Roma
Bayer Leverkusen
Dynamo Kiev

3rd toughest group.. Real and Leverkusen to go on I think

C
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Ajax
Maccabi Tel-Aviv

(I was going to call this the Group of Death, but with a third place team going out to the UEFA Cup, and Maccabi Tel-Aviv getting beaten up by the other three teams, Juve and Ajax to go through

D
Man Utd
Olympique Lyonnais
Sparta Prague
Fenerbache

(Easy go of it, looks like for Man Yoo.. I say Lyonnais takes the 2nd spot)

E
Arsenal
Panthaniakos
PSV Eindhoven
Rosenborg

(PSV and Arsenal likely to qualify from this one)

F
Barcelona
AC Milan
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk

(Well.. maybe this is the #2 group of death.. 3 sharks and a minnow. Barcelona and AC Milan.)

G
Valencia
Inter Milan
Anderlecht
Werder Bremen

Eh... not bad.. not great. Inter, and in a shock, Werder Bremen

H
Porto
Chelsea
Paris SG
CSKA Moscow

Tight group, anyone can advance, anyone can fail..

[moriarty]

I dont' know if Liverpool got that bad of a draw. Monaco (despite their run last year) can be beat. Of course if Liverpool plays like they did in barely getting past Graz, forget it.

Some interesting matchups:
Barcelona vs. Celtic (group F) - Larsson versus his old club (BTW - I don't think celtic has a chance in this bracket)


Previous champion Porto vs. their ex-coach at Chel-ski (I'm rooting hard for Porto on this one).

[fantastic flying froggies]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

A
Deportivo
Liverpool
Monaco
Olympiakos

Wow.. looks a bit tough for Liverpool.. I think Deportivo and Monaco to survive.

It will be interesting to see the rematch of last year's Deportivo vs Monaco games...
I think you probably dismiss all of the Greek teams a bit too easily, don't forget they won the Euro this summer. And almost all players came from Olympiakos or Panathinaikos...

[fantastic flying froggies]

Originally Posted by moriarty

I dont' know if Liverpool got that bad of a draw. Monaco (despite their run last year) can be beat.

Agreed, last year's Monaco is nothing like this year's. They basically lost all of their star offensive players- Morientes, Giuly, Prso, Rothen,...

[MIJB#19]

A
Deportivo
Liverpool
Monaco
Olympiakos

Very tough group. Deportivo and Moncao and Liverpool. Olympiakos will be a happy spoiler team, seeing they are clear underdogs.
My early take: 1. Deportivo, 2. Monaco, 3. Liverpool, 4. Olympiakos

B
Real Madrid
Roma
Bayer Leverkusen
Dynamo Kiev

Group A tough, how's this? Even the underdogs would be favorites to go through in other groups.
My early take: 1. Real Madrid, 2. Dynamo Kiyv, 3. Roma, 4. Leverkusen

C
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Ajax
Maccabi Tel-Aviv

i think we have a combined 15 CL/EC I victories here, those Israeli must feel like they are the luckiest people in the world playing against such big teams. Ajax have a young and potential strong team, but Bayern and Juve are still on another level.
My early take: 1. Juventus, 2. Bayern, 3. Ajax, 4. Mac T-Aviv

D
Man Utd
Olympique Lyonnais
Sparta Prague
Fenerbache

Man Utd and three dark horses. Not an easygroup for any of these potential second rounders.
My early take: 1. Man Utd, 2. Lyon, 3. Fenerbahce, 4. Sparta Praha

E
Arsenal
Panthaniakos
PSV Eindhoven
Rosenborg

Arsenal versus three third tier teams, will be interesting. PSV are the #1 unerachievers of the CL since it began, never ever survived the first group stages. A rebuilding PSV, although impressive so far this season, won't make a fist with this competition.
My early take: 1. Arsenal, 2. PAO, 3. Rosenborg, 4. PSV Eindhoven

F
Barcelona
AC Milan
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk

Wow, the early 90's powerhouses against eachoter. Celtic must feel robbed.
My early take: 1. Milan, 2. Barca, 3. Celtic, 4. Shakthar

G
Valencia
Inter Milan
Anderlecht
Werder Bremen

Tough group, especially with Werder being the toughest of all #4 seeds. Anderlecht could be the big surprise, despite the three others being from a level higher.
My early take: 1. Valencia, 2. Werder, 3. Andrlecht, 4. Internazionale

H
Porto
Chelsea
Paris SG
CSKA Moscow

If Porto hadn't won the CL in 03/04 and Chelsea wasn't so buy-and-win with the CL winning coach, I'd rate this as the weakest of all groups. Now it's a pretty exciting group to follow. Porto has fallen apart and will be the big disappointment. CSKA on the road won't be fun for the others.
My early take: 1. Chelsea, 2. PSG, 3. CSKA Moskva, 4. Porto

[Alf]

So CL tipping has officially started

[SirFozzie]

Well, only because we couldn't bet on cow tipping.

[HornedFrog Purple]

I'll be rooting for the darkhorse Russian team CSKA Moscow, the Russian teams never seem to get out of the 1st round.

Of course I have CM to thank for that when I played a bunch of seasons as Anzhi and got to the quarterfinals in the Champions League. Then my team was demolished by the big teams in Western Europe who took all my players.

[Critch]

CSKA might not even get as far as the group stage. Apparently Abramovich (owner of Chelsea) may also have control over CSKA through one of his other companies and that breaks UEFA rules. UEFA are investigating and they say that if there's any doubt, either Chelsea or CSKA will have to withdraw.

Normally I'd feel some sympathy for CSKA's situation but as they knocked out Rangers I hope UEFA kicks them out

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Critch

CSKA might not even get as far as the group stage. Apparently Abramovich (owner of Chelsea) may also have control over CSKA through one of his other companies and that breaks UEFA rules. UEFA are investigating and they say that if there's any doubt, either Chelsea or CSKA will have to withdraw.

Normally I'd feel some sympathy for CSKA's situation but as they knocked out Rangers I hope UEFA kicks them out

They should kick Chelsea out if Abramovich has been longer involved with CSKA.


CL tipping, jeez, do I really have to host again?
I'll dig up the spreadsheet and post it Friday morning, I expected the draw to be on Friday as usual...

[Critch]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

They should kick Chelsea out if Abramovich has been longer involved with CSKA.

The rule is that he'll be asked which team he wants to withdraw.

UEFA are saying that if there is any doubt, one will be withdrawn. But how can they ask him to withdraw a team that they can't prove he has any control over?

It's messy, Abramovich's friend is the chairman of CSKA, one of Abramovich's companies sponsors CSKA for a huge amount of money ($64mil over 4 years), one of CSKA's new signings has said he's been told that CSKA is a stepping stone before he moves to Chelsea next year. Hard to prove though.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Wow I had no idea.

Kick out Chelsea! What is CL tipping by the way?