Champions League groups drawn

August 25, 2006 at 5:02 am · Filed under Premiership, Soccer, UEFA Champions League

Group A:

Barcelona

Chelsea

Bremen

Levski Sofia

A mini group of death?? Possible.People would tip Barcelona and Chelsea to go through but do not underestimate Werder Bremen. Bremen have lost Micoud to Bordeaux,but they still have some fine players in Klose,Klasnic,Borowski etc..If Bremen do play upto their potential we could see a surprise in this group

Group B:

Inter Milan

Bayern Munich

Sporting Lisbon

Spartak Moscow

Shouldn’t be much of a headache for the current Italian and German champions to go through. Going to play in the freezing climes of Moscow may represent a challenge though

Group C:

Liverpool

PSV

Bordeaux

Galatasaray

The second spot is up for grabs here.PSV are the sole representatives of the Dutch after FC Copenhagen stunned Ajax . Bordeaux have some good players,Micoud and Denilson being examples. Galatarasay are no newbies to European competition and will be a force to reckon with.

Group D:

Valencia

Roma

Olympiakos

Shakhtar Donetsk

I do not see major problems for Valencia or Roma to go through from this group.I’d back the Greeks to go into the UEFA cup

Group E:

Real Madrid

Lyon

Steaua Bucharest

Dinamo Kiev

Madrid will be keen to avenge their 3-0 loss to hands of Lyon last season.Lyon had an even more heartbreaking exit to the Rossoneri in the quarters last time around.Both of these teams to go through.

Group F:

Manchester United

Celtic

Benfica

FC Copenhagen

Tricky group for United.On paper neither of the remaining three teams have real big names,but as a unit they canplay very effectively. United need to play well to win this. Benfica to take the next spot ahead of Celtic for me.

Group G:

Arsenal

Porto

CSKA Moscow

Hamburg

This IMO is a real group of death. Porto are no bunnies,CSKA were European Cup winners in 2005 and Hamburg are a rising force in the Bundesliga. Arsene Wenger and his boys will have to be very wary of the three other teams.

( edit Arsenal have signed a Brazilian medio by the name of Denilson–http://sportsunlimited.wordpress.com/2006/09/02/arsenal-sign-denilson/)

Group H:

AC Milan

Lille

AEK Athens

Anderlecht

The simplest group,some would say. It definitely looks like that for Milan,who lost at the semifinal stage last season. No major worries for Carlo Ancelotti and a spot in the last 16 is virtually guaranteed. Lille were not at all bad last season in Europe and I back them to make the knockout stages.

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