Champions League Group Stage Draw

Frisbee

Pot 1
Barcelona
Manchester United
Chelsea
Arsenal
Bayern Munich
Real Madrid
Porto
Internazionale

Pot 2
Milan
Lyon
Shakhtar Donetsk
Valencia
Benfica
Villarreal
CSKA Moscow
Marseille

Pot 3
Zenit St. Petersburg
Ajax
Bayer Leverkusen
Olympiacos
Manchester City
Lille
Basel
BATE Borisov

Pot 4
Borussia Dortmund
Napoli
Dinamo Zagreb
APOEL
Trabzonspor
Genk
Viktoria Plzeň
Oţelul Galaţi


Looking at Pot 4 obviously Dortmund and Napoli are the teams to avoid, they'll be a real test for whoever gets them, as will City in Pot 3.

From an Arsenal POV:

Group of Death: Arsenal, Shakhtar, Zenit, Napoli.
Group of Awesome: Arsenal, Marseille, Basel, Genk

Le King

Worst group for us would be Milan, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund. I hope we get this group.

We'll probably end up with: Benfica, Basel and Genk.

JimsAlterEgo

Group of death will most likely involve City and or Dortmund

GLaDOS

What time is the draw at?

Le King

Would love to see Barcelona, Milan, City, Dortmund.

Frisbee

ScienceNerd wrote: »

What time is the draw at?

4.45 I think.

Ordinary man

Can man city end up in a group with another english team?

Fowler87

How are City 3rd seeds and Dortmund (champions in Germany and CL winners before) 4th seeds

SEPT 23 1989

Arsenal Marseille City Oţelul Galaţi please

Frisbee

Ordinary man wrote: »

Can man city end up in a group with another english team?

Nope

GavRedKing

Frisbee wrote: »

Pot 1
Chelsea

Pot 2
Marseille

Pot 3
BATE Borisov

Pot 4
Genk

What I'd like for us this year anyway.

stesaurus

Fowler87 wrote: »

How are City 3rd seeds and Dortmund (champions in Germany and CL winners before) 4th seeds

When was the last time either did well in Europe??? Doing well in a strong domestic competition means nothing to your European co-efficient.


I think for Man U group of death would be:
Milan
Lille
Dortmund

But I'd actually love that to come out!

That_Guy

Barcelona, Milan, Manchester City, Dortmund would be an amazing group.

Blatter

That_Guy wrote: »

Barcelona, Milan, Manchester City, Dortmund would be an amazing group.

It'll never happen, unfortunately:(

Fowler87

s.welstead wrote: »

When was the last time either did well in Europe??? Doing well in a strong domestic competition means nothing to your European co-efficient.

Well Dortmund won the CL in the 90s so they should have a stronger co-efficient than Man City. City havnt even taken part in the CL before and if the co-efficient takes in Uefa cup, Im sure Dortmund have had more appearances too. IMO they should be at least on par with City

jameshayes

Frisbee wrote: »

Pot 1
Manchester United

Pot 2
Villarreal

Pot 3
Ajax

Pot 4
Genk

,

HalloweenJack

Fowler87 wrote: »

How are City 3rd seeds and Dortmund (champions in Germany and CL winners before) 4th seeds

Seedings are based on how the team has done in the last five seasons of European football.

Man City went out in the Europa League's round of 16 last year, weren't in Europe the season before, reached the QF of the Europa League the season before that and weren't in Europe the two seasons before.

Dortmund went out in the group stages of the Europa League last year, weren't in Europe the season before that, were knocked out in the first round of the Europa League the year before that and weren't in Europe the years before that.

So, neither team have decent European records in the last few years, hence they're in the lower seeds.

That_Guy

Blatter wrote: »

It'll never happen, unfortunately:(

One can only hope eh?

stesaurus

Fowler87 wrote: »

Well Dortmund won the CL in the 90s so they should have a stronger co-efficient than Man City. City havnt even taken part in the CL before and if the co-efficient takes in Uefa cup, Im sure Dortmund have had more appearances too. IMO they should be at least on par with City

Dortmund have been away from Europe for a long time apart from a poor Europa a couple of years ago. Your co-efficient drops each year if you don't play which is perfectly reasonable.

As far as I'm aware City would have never had a co-efficient before a few years ago. So they were given an average based on the rest of English Clubs. Which sounds good when you think of United, Arsenal, Chelsea etc. but then remember it will also include crappy co-efficients of Portsmouth, Villa, Newcastle etc.
City also had an ok'ish run in the Europa last year so will have gained a few points, otherwise they would have been Pot4.

v3ttel

Dortmund and Napoli are ridiculously strong fourth seeds. I can understand why City are "only" in pot 3, but they'd obviously be the ones to avoid.

Are the pots in the OP ranked by co-efficient? How are recent winners Inter barely scrapping into pot 1, if so?

Blatter

That_Guy wrote: »

Barcelona, Milan, Manchester City, Dortmund would be an amazing group.

Blatter wrote: »

It'll never happen, unfortunately:(

That_Guy wrote: »

One can only hope eh?

We can hope, but UEFA will never let it happen.

dsmythy

Blatter wrote: »

We can hope, but UEFA will never let it happen.

Thanks for the inside scoop Blatter

stesaurus

Rooney10 wrote: »

Dortmund and Napoli are ridiculously strong fourth seeds. I can understand why City are "only" in pot 3, but they'd obviously be the ones to avoid.

Are the pots in the OP ranked by co-efficient? How are recent winners Inter barely scrapping into pot 1, if so?

Maybe this might help:
http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club//index.html

You'd be surprised how little winning the whole competition actually means as the finalists end up with the same points, i.e Utd and Barca.

Also the Europa league gets far too many points imo.

But at least there is one important point correct Man Utd are THE BEST team in Europe

ArmaniJeanss

Blatter wrote: »

but UEFA will never let it happen.

Yes, because there has never been a ridiculously strong group in one of these draws, and the phrase The Group Of Death has never been used.

Blatter

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Yes, because there has never been a ridiculously strong group in one of these draws, and the phrase The Group Of Death has never been used.

Not involving Barcelona there hasn't.

It was said in jest anyway, I'm not being serious.

stesaurus

Blatter wrote: »

We can hope, but UEFA will never let it happen.

Are you implying they rig the draw???

They'd need Miles O'Brien on the transporter pad to rig a draw like that.

Redzer7

Would love to Arsenal to avoid Dortmund and lille.

28064212

Rooney10 wrote: »

Are the pots in the OP ranked by co-efficient? How are recent winners Inter barely scrapping into pot 1, if so?

Nope, although not for the reason you think, Inter are 8th, haven't been great other than 09/10. Man United are top of the rankings though (not by much)

Ranking info: http://kassiesa.home.xs4all.nl/bert/uefa/data/method4/trank2012.html

ArmaniJeanss

s.welstead wrote: »

Maybe this might help:
http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club//index.html

You'd be surprised how little winning the whole competition actually means as the finalists end up with the same points, i.e Utd and Barca.

Also the Europa league gets far too many points imo.

But at least there is one important point correct Man Utd are THE BEST team in Europe

Cheers for that, quite interesting that in some years the team who gets most coeff points wasn't even a finallist, but instead a team with a strong group record. Like Donetsk in 08/09.

RasTa

Spurs went into pot 3 as well.

Hoping City get Madrid or Barca

homerjay2005

RasTa wrote: »

Spurs went into pot 3 as well.

Hoping City get Madrid or Barca

i dont...i hope they get all the s*it teams, and get knocked out then in the process.

RasTa

homerjay2005 wrote: »

i dont...i hope they get all the s*it teams, and get knocked out then in the process.

Nah, I want them playing as many games as possible so maybe 3rd and keep them in Europa.

The Floyd p

As a Barca fan I hope to get

Barcelona, Benfica, Basel and Viktoria Plzeň

JP Liz V1

Manchester United, AC Milan, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund

Bertser

Chelsea, Benfica, BATE Borisov and Genk please.

wheres me jumpa

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Manchester United, AC Milan, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund

Yes please. Group stages are such a non event in recent years. Id love a few decent games.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

wheres me jumpa wrote: »

Yes please. Group stages are such a non event in recent years. Id love a few decent games.

The Liverpool team of 09/10 say hi :pac:

HalloweenJack

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Cheers for that, quite interesting that in some years the team who gets most coeff points wasn't even a finallist, but instead a team with a strong group record. Like Donetsk in 08/09.

They won the Europa League that year, though. I imagine that's where their strong coefficient is from.

Chucky the tree

Shaktar, Zeint and APOEL for Arsenal please.

Peyton Manning

Napoli and Dortmund in Group 4 really do spice it up a bit. Wouldn't want either (although I actually kind of do, just to make it more interesting).

Viktoria Plzen also sounds like a hot Polish girl rather than a football club.

parc

is it on tv?

Professional Griefer

Sorry

Professional Griefer

parc wrote: »

is it on tv?

Its on skysports news and the rte website, www.rte.ie/sport I think it is.

Professional Griefer

Sorry for the triple post!

CorkMan

Real Madrid in Pot 1 again, interesting.

As a Madrid fan i'd want:

Real Madrid
Benfica
BATE Borisov
Oţelul Galaţi

I don't know why supporters of group in Pot 1 are saying they want City/Dortmund. City will be more than likely be as good as any pot A team this season, a much higher chance you'd finish 2nd place if they are in your group than others.

28064212

CorkMan wrote: »

I don't know why supporters of group in Pot 1 are saying they want City/Dortmund. City will be more than likely be as good as any pot A team this season, a much higher chance you'd finish 2nd place if they are in your group than others.

Eh... who on this thread has said they want those two in their group? Everyone has said they're the ones to avoid

jank

Where is liverpool?

Oh!

jameshayes

For anyone who doesn't know yet.... The draw is online here

http://www.rte.ie/sport/livestreaming/soccer.html

.... stream starts at 16:40

CorkMan

jameshayes wrote: »

For anyone who doesn't know yet.... The draw is online here

http://www.rte.ie/sport/livestreaming/soccer.html

.... stream starts at 16:40

I'd love it John "The Senior Analyst" Giles was asked to give his point of view on some of the sides I don't even know of in Group D.

"Well, ah, well Bill, we don't know much about them."

Is this on Setanta Ireland?

Smegball

Is this on MTV?