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Champions League
Topic Started: Aug 13 2007, 02:00 PM (4,098 Views)
Simon
Advanced Member
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As a primer for the draw, here are the four 'pots' of seeds, together with their current UEFA coefficient. The eight top seeds are holders Milan and their city rivals Inter, Barcelona and Real Madrid and the four English sides Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. From a United point of view, obviously teams can't play anyone from their own country but with all 4 English clubs being among the top seeds it means United could be drawn against absolutely anyone from the other 3 pots. Should be interesting!

1 Milan 133.808
2 Barcelona 119.374
3 Liverpool 112.618
4 Internazionale 107.808
5 Arsenal 104.618
6 Real Madrid 104.374
7 Manchester United* 99.618
8 Chelsea* 99.618
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9 Valencia 95.706
10 Lyon 94.374
11 Porto 89.107
12 Sevilla / AEK Athens** 87.374
13 PSV Eindhoven 81.995
14 Roma 78.808
15 Benfica 67.107
16 Werder Bremen 63.640
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17 Celtic*** 62.064
18 Schalke 04 60.640
19 Stuttgart 58.640
20 Steaua 55.255
21 CSKA Moscow 53.920
22 Sporting Lisbon 52.107
23 Lazio 51.808
24 Marseille 51.706
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25 Rangers 47.064
26 Shakhtar Donetsk 44.726
27 Beºiktaº 43.791
28 Olympiacos 42.415
29 Dynamo Kiev 38.726
30 Fenerbahçe 36.791
31 Slavia Prague 32.851
32 Rosenborg*** 31.509

I'd quite like to get Valencia from pot two, or maybe Roma! Maybe Sporting Lisbon or Stuttgart from pot 3. Olympiakos or Slavia Prague would be good from pot 4, two good away trips.
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kevin
Advanced Member
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Nah -- you want Benfica. Lisbon's a great city and it's a better chance for a win in my mind!

If there weren't such a bad history between the English and Turkish fans, either of the Istanbul-based teams would be good ones as well, though at this point I'd rather actually play Bestikas.

And as I write that, I'm recalling that I've just countered your thoughts on playing Roma and Fener -- two of United's biggest wins in recent CL matches!
'Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
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Simon
Advanced Member
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Group A
LIVERPOOL
Porto
Marseille
Besiktas

Group B
CHELSEA
Valencia
Schalke 04
Rosenborg

Group C
REAL MADRID
Werder Bremen
Lazio
Olympiakos

Group D
AC MILAN
Benfica
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk

Group E
BARCELONA
Lyon
Stuttgart
Rangers

Group F
MANCHESTER UNITED
Roma
Sporting Lisbon
Dynamo Kiev

Group G
INTER MILAN
PSV Eindhoven
CSKA Moscow
Fenerbahce

Group H
ARSENAL
Sevilla/AEK Athens
Steaua Bucharest
Slavia Prague

Kevin, looks like the Red Army is indeed off to Lisbon, but to play Sporting! Tough group that but some good matches in prospect. No-one likes going to play in Kiev, it's notoriously difficult to get a result there. I was amused to see the Roma delegation grimace when they found they had United, and I saw that Paolo Maldini who made the draw was smiling at that one as well! I'm not expecting another 7-1 though. Those will be tough games and Roma will be desperate for revenge. I just hope their fans and police keep their respective knives and batons to themselves this time.

I don't think there's a true 'group of death'. United's group seems to be about the toughest. Group E looks tricky, but I'm not sure that Lyon and Stuttgart are strong enough to compete with Barca. Lyon have lost many important players either to transfers or to injuries, although they still have a talented squad. Rangers are definite outsiders IMO.
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rosarino
Advanced Member
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Looks to me that this year the 8 seeded teams plus Valencia and Roma as 2nd seeds are above the rest. I think all 8 seeded tams should qualify out of their groups but the rest of the teams, with a few exceptions like Steaua Bucharest and Rosenborg, look pretty evenly matched. Hopefully that will make for some exciting group matches.

I'd say Manchester United's, Inter Milan's and Real Madrid's groups look the most difficult but I don't see the top seeded teams having trouble qualifying out of them.
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Merengue
Administrator
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In the group stages of an international tournament, whether it is a Champions League, a World Cup, a European championship or Copa America, I think a good way of judging a group's strength is to look at the third seeded team. You know the top seed will be strong and in most cases so will the 2nd. But if your 3rd seed also is good then you know the group will be competitive. Looking at the groups from today's draw I see Lazio, Schalke and possibly Stuttgart and CSKA Moscow as being the strongest third seeds so I'd say those will end up being the most competitive groups.

If Sevilla wins against AEK as expected on Monday then they and Arsenal will be quite happy they were drawn in what looks like the most accessible group in the draw. That should benefit Sevilla in their first ever Champions League.
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enganche
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I'm going to agree with rosarino that the 8 seeded teams look pretty safe this year. With Lyon dipping in form and troubled by injuries right now they don't look like the force they've been in the past but you still can't count them out. Merengue's theory of looking at the 3rd seeded teams sounds good but I'd also suggets looking at some of the 4th seeds too and that is where you see teams like Dynamo Kiev and Fenerbahce who are pretty tough teams which I think will make their groups F & G particularly competitive.

With Zico coaching them and Roberto Carlos, Alex (the Brazilian playmaker not the centerback) and Diego Lugano on their team I think Fenerbahce could be a good choice as a surprise team of this year's tournament. I'm not saying they'll win the competition but I wouldn't be shocked if they got out of their group.
Prefiero morir de pie que vivir arrodillado
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xeneize
Advanced Member
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Sevilla won convincingly in Athens 4-1 over AEK for a 6-1 overall victory and they advance now to the Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. They and Arsenal have a very favorable draw as I don't think either Slavia Prague or Steaua Bucharest are of the same category as Arsenal and Sevilla.

I agree with the consensus here that all of the top seeded teams look like they should classify for the 2nd round. But the fight for the 2nd qualifying spot looks like it should be very competitive. To my way of thinking all the other non seeded teams, except for Slavia Prague, Steaua Bucharest and Rosenborg have legitimate hopes of claiming one of the top 2 spots in their group. That should make the group games very competitive and interesting.

Some fascinating news as the competing clubs have turned in their list of eligible players for the group stages. Inter did not include Adriano on their roster while Chelsea did not name Michael Ballack to theirs. Inter claim Adriano is not in form now and he's currently the team's 5th choice forward behind Ibrahimovic, Crespo, Cruz and Suazo. Chelsea say Ballack still hasn't recovered from his ankle injury which has kept him out of action since last spring.
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Pepe
Advanced Member
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xeneize I think your list of the teams who don't look like they can contend is pretty good. I too think the 8 seeded teams look safe for advancement to the 2nd round but the battle for the 2nd group qualifying spot should be close between the remaining teams with the exception of those xeneize listed who look a step below the rest (Slavia, Steaua, Rosenborg).

That is big news that neither Adriano nor Ballack were included in their clubs' list of players eligible for the Champions League. I had not realized Ballack's injury was so serious. What about Shevchenko's injury status?
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Manzanares
Advanced Member
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Adriano apparently has been partying too much. His neighbors complain about the late night parties at his home outside of Milan! Ballack on the other hand is coming off his injury but today Germany's coach Joachim Low said Ballack is supposed to be ready to play again in October so he was dumbfounded by Chelsea's decision to leave him off the Champions League squad for the group matches. That of course doesn't prevent them from playing him in league games once he's recovered though.
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Pepe
Advanced Member
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Time for the fun to begin again as the Champions League starts tomorrow. Here are this week's matches:

Tuesday
FC Porto vs Liverpool Primera Fase Grupo A Estadio do Dragao
Marseille vs Besiktas Primera Fase Grupo A Stade Vélodrome
Chelsea vs Rosenborg Primera Fase Grupo B Stamford Bridge
Schalke 04 vs Valencia Primera Fase Grupo B Veltins-Arena
Olympiakos vs Lazio Primera Fase Grupo C El Estadio Karaiskaki
Real Madrid vs Werder Bremen Primera Fase Grupo C Estadio Santiago Bernabéu
AC Milan vs Benfica Primera Fase Grupo D Stadio Giuseppe Meazza
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Celtic Primera Fase Grupo D Shakhtyor

Wednesday
Barcelona vs Lyon Primera Fase Grupo E Estadio Camp Nou
Rangers vs VfB Stuttgart Primera Fase Grupo E Ibrox Stadium
AS Roma vs Dynamo Kiev Primera Fase Grupo F Stadio Olimpico
Sporting Lisbon vs Man Utd Primera Fase Grupo F Jose Alvalade
Fenerbahce vs Inter Milan Primera Fase Grupo G Sukru Saracoglu
PSV Eindhoven vs CSKA Moscow Primera Fase Grupo G Philips Stadion
Arsenal vs FC Sevilla Primera Fase Grupo H Emirates Stadium
Slavia Prague vs Steaua Bucuresti Primera Fase Grupo H Evzena Rosickeho Stadium


A lot of interesting games to start with on Tuesday like Porto-Liverpool, Schalke-Valencia and Real Madrid-Werder Bremen. It is good to get the Champions Legaue starting again, I feel like the season has now truly begun again in Europe!
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rosarino
Advanced Member
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With the battle for 2nd place expected to be very close in many of these groups, games like Shakhtar-Celtic, Olympiakos-Lazio and Marseille-Besiktas are going to be very important. It may only be the first week but those results could make or break some of these outsiders' chance to qualify for the 2nd round.
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Sergio
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I am anxious to see Bernd Schuster's new look Real Madrid against Werder Bremen. Let's see if this talk of a more offensive Madrid is true or not. And Porto-Liverpool is another good first day matchup. It isn't easy winning in Portugal but Liverpool look loaded this season.
"You left as a champion, you will always be in our hearts. Rest in Peace Christian Benítez."
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Merengue
Administrator
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Other than Chelsea-Rosenborg all of Tuesday's games look to me like they should be competitive. I was thinking about Inter and the suspensions of some of their players as a result of last year's fight with Valencia's then player David Navarro (now with Mallorca). Aren't there 3 Inter players suspended for most of the group games? Inter doesn't have an easy game either playing Wednesday at Fenerbahce.
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Winslow
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And off we go. Tuesday's results...
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Group A: Marseille 2, Besiktas 0; Porto 1, Liverpool 1.
Group B: Chelsea 1, Rosenborg 1; Schalke 0, Valencia 1.
Group C: Real Madrid 2, Werder Bremen 1; Olympiakos 1, Lazio 1.
Group D: AC Milan 2, Benfica 1; Shakhtar Donetsk 2, Celtic 0.

So a couple of surprises on the first day, as the Ukrainians take advantage of a terrible start by the Bhoys to grab the group lead. Milan's win should have been bigger, but Quim in the Benfica goal held the Rossoneri scoreless in the second half before Nuno Gomes grabbed a late one.

Otherwise, Real took an early lead on a nifty Raul header, gave it back before halftime, then van Nistelrooy won it. Lazio fell behind, but managed a useful point. Chelsea also gave up the first goal and had to fight back, while Valencia may have gotten more than it deserved, thanks to David Villa's score.

Porto took the early lead on Liverpool on a Lucho Gonzalez penalty, then gave it back less than ten minutes later when Kuyt avoided sloppy marking by Lucho and headed in the equalizer. And Marseille needed late goals from Rodriguez and Cisse to get off to its good start.

Rosarino makes a good point about the matches that could be very important to deciding lower places in the groups. Rangers-Stuttgart on Wednesday is another good example of that. I'm also looking forward to Barca-Lyon and Arsenal-Sevilla.
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Yogi
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I was very content with Milan's win. Benfica are a pretty skilled team but Milan took it too them in the first half in building that 2-0 lead. Pirlo scored a beauty of a free kick from a tough angle curling it to the near post then a nice combination led to the 2nd goal as Kaka attacked down the left, passed it wide right to Pirlo whose cross was met by Inzaghi volleying the ball into the net. Team work at it's best. After that Milan let up a bit but until their injury time goal Benfica while trying hard were going to be stopped by Milan's defense or if anything got by, Dida did well in the nets. It was good to see Rui Costa again, he's with Benfica now, and Dida made a good stop on a long range shot of his but Milan were worthy winners. For those wondering Freddy Adu didn't make Benfica's travel squad for this game.

I also saw Porto vs Liverpool and the Portuguese team should kick themselves for not beating Liverpool today. Porto did everything right but couldn't finish other than the one goal, via a penalty kick. Quaresma was running rings around Liverpool's defense but like their national team, Porto just couldn't finish the chances their good approach work made. And Liverpool opportunistically scored on one of their few chances.

Rosenborg's tie at Chelsea was probably the biggest surprise of the first day as Mourinho's team is having trouble scoring in the new season. And Schalke's loss at home to Valencia may be the most costly result of the day in the final group standings.
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