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The draw for the group stage of the Champs League is due to be held in just under 2 hours, in Monaco, and can be followed live on the UEFA site.
Having gotten through the qualifier last night, Arsenal's
success last year means that we're in the top group of seeds,
and will avoid the likes of Milan, Barca, Real Madrid, Inter and Valencia as well as the other English teams (including Chelsea
who are again in the second group of seeds).
But there's still the potential for some tricky groups,
what with the likes of Bayern Munich and Lyon in the second group and even some nasty ties such as Galatasaray lurking down in the last group.
The teams that we can meet are:
One of... Bayern Munich, Celtic, Lyon, Porto, PSV, Roma, and Lille.
One of... Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, Bordeaux, Steaua Bucharest, Werder Bremen, Olympiakos, CSKA Moscow, and AEK Athens
One of... Anderlecht, Dynamo Kiev, Levski Sofia, Shakhtar Donetsk, Galatasaray, Hamburg, Spartak Moscow, and FC Copenhagen
Note that teams from the same country cannot be in the same group.
The only really surprising absentee from the draw following last night's ties is Ajax, who came runners-up in our group last year but went out of this year's competition after FC Copenhagen turned around a 1 goal deficit from the first leg.
The draw ceremony will also include the UEFA Club Football awards, in which Jens Lehmann, Emmanuel Eboue, and
Thierry Henry have been nominated for the goalkeeper, defender, and striker awards respectively. The player of the season wil be picked from those nominated in all categories, and the full list of nominees includes Ronaldinho, nuff said. Lehmann's chances will have been dented slightly by his sending off in the final. |