The top 32 teams in Europe will discover their fate on Thursday 17:30 European Central Time as they are placed into 8 groups in the UEFA Champions League
They are places into 4 pots as follows:
Pot 1
1. FC Barcelona (ESP, holders)
2. Chelsea FC (ENG)
3. Liverpool FC (ENG)
4. Manchester United FC (ENG)
5. AC Milan (ITA)
6. Arsenal FC (ENG)
7. Sevilla FC (ESP)
8. FC Bayern München (GER)
Pot 2
9. Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
10. FC Internazionale Milano (ITA
11. Real Madrid CF (ESP)
12. PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS)
13. FC Porto (POR)
14. AZ Alkmaar (NED)
15. Juventus (ITA)
16. Rangers FC (SCO)
Pot 3
17. Olympiacos FC (GRE)
18. Olympique de Marseille (FRA)
19. FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
20. VfB Stuttgart (GER)
21. ACF Fiorentina (ITA)
22. Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP)
23. FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FRA)
24. Beşiktaş JK (TUR)
Pot 4
25. VfL Wolfsburg (GER)
26. R. Standard de Liège (BEL)
27. Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR)
28. FC Zürich (SUI)
29. FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)
30. AFC Unirea Urziceni (ROU)
31. APOEL FC (CYP)
32. Debreceni VSC (HUN)
Two teams from the same country cannot be in the same group
VfL Wolfsburg, FC Rubin Kazan, AZ Alkmaar, R. Standard de Liège, AFC Unirea Urziceni, Debreceni VSC, APOEL FC and FC Zürich will all be making their debuts in a competition which sees 18 nations represented in the group stage this year.
A couple of thoughts. Seville is probably the weakest team in Pot 1 and since they cannot get Real Madrid, they only ones they really have to dodge are Lyon and Inter. This may result in a very easy group. Real Madrid have a 2/3 chance of drawing an English team. Rangers are fortunate to be in Pot 2 as they will probably avoid a death group. They have a 50/50 chance of drawing an English team.
What's a good death group?
How about
Barcelona
Inter
Bordeaux
Wolfsberg
If I were Sevilla, I would worry about drawing Juve as well. There was quite a bit of talent on the roster last year, and they've re-added Cannavaro.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how is Wolfsburg in Pot 4, while Bayern lands in Pot 1? I'm not familiar with the seeding process.
Whichever group draws Wolfsburg automatically qualifes as group of death, imo.
ReplyDeleteChelski
Madrid
Kiev
Wolfsburg
That would be a brutal group.
Wolfsburg's never qualified for the Champions League and had played in the UEFA Cup only twice I believe so they don't get get seeded.
ReplyDeleteOne example would be, if Chile wins the South American qualifying group to qualify for the World Cup, Brazil and Argentina would still be seeded based on Rankings and Chile would be in Pot 3 or 4.
The English teams have made out like bandits so far:
ReplyDeleteMan U draws CSKA Moscow
Chelsea draws Porto
Liverpool draws Lyon
Arsenal draws AZ Akmaar
Other than Liverpool, those should be easier than drawing Inter, Real, or Juve.