Champions League Draw Dissected

The day that we had all been waiting for is over and we now know the fate of our favorite teams. Lets take a look at some of the big matches and tricky spots in these groups. There are some teams who have to go up against some of the best teams in the world, others who have to travel what appears to be to the four corners of the globe for their matches, and others who have it relatively easy.

Some of the biggest match ups you will find are in Group C and Group F. Group C is home to top seed AC Milan, newly renovated Real Madrid, Ligue 1 runner ups Marseille, and Swiss Champions Zurich. Obviously the biggest battles will be between Milan and Real Madrid. Both teams have had players join and leave the clubs with the biggest one being Kaka making the switch from Milan to Madrid in one of the biggest transfer deals in history. On paper it appears that Madrid should top this group with Milan in a close second but Marseille will be tricky. They are a team that could capitalize on any slip ups from either team. AC Milan did not have the best pre-season with the amount of losses they incurred so Marseille will be looking to give them a go at home on September 15. Group C is just barely the group of death. The other group that is promising mouth watering attacking soccer is in Group F. Barcelona head the group with Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev, and Rubin Kazan filling out the other 3 spots. Look for Barcelona and Inter to go through, in that order. What makes it interesting is the summer business of both teams. Unlike Milan and Real Madrid who had Kaka swap one team for the other, Inter and Barcelona each had a player jumping ship to ply their trade in a new country. Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o were involved in one of the biggest transfers of the year with Eto’o going to Inter Milan and Ibrahimovic going to Barcelona. Now they get to play each other in a match that everyone will be watching. I expect Barcelona will be too much for Inter because their midfield is the best balanced midfield in the world. Inter has a great team and fantastic coach in Jose Mourinho, but I am afraid even Eto’o won’t be enough to stop the Barcelona team from topping the group.

Now on to the teams that have to travel a good bit. Well this is simple… Manchester United. There are two countries (Russia and Turkey) and one team (Wolfsburg) that they would have wanted to avoided in the draw. That would have been too easy. The English champions were paired with CSKA Moscow from Russia, Besiktas from Turkey, and the reigning German Champions Wolfsburg. Now on paper these teams would not be terribly hard to conquer. The problem comes in with scheduling and traveling. United’s first game is away to the Turkish champions. Everyone will remember Besiktas as the team that were on the losing end of a record setting thrashing at the hands of Liverpool. The score was 8-0 to be exact. Unfortunately that was at Anfield. What people fail to remember is that Liverpool lost 2-1 when playing the same game in Turkey. So United have a difficult first game to start their Champions League season. What makes it worse is that this game is played right between United taking on red hot Tottenham and big money spenders Manchester City in the middle of September. The other long distance journey is having to travel to Russia. United will be taking on CSKA in the same stadium that they lifted the 2008 Champions League trophy. Again not particularly difficult on paper until you realize that after traveling to Russia they will have to travel to Anfield 4 days later. It doesn’t get any easier when CSKA comes to Old Trafford because then United will face Chelsea the very next game. The traveling and scheduling concerns are not present against Wolfsburg. That will just be a tough game. There were seven easy teams in pot 4 and one difficult one. United were unlucky to get the difficult one. United and Wolfsburg should go through but it won’t be easy.

As hard as United have it, Arsenal have equally easy. I don’t think Arsene Wenger has ever complained about a Champions League draw and that should continue this year as well. Arsenal has easily the best draw of any team. Grouped with AZ Alkmaar, Olympiakos, and Standard Liege look for Fabregas and company to try and win the first 3 matches and cruise until the knock out stages. Arsenal and either of Olympiakos and Alkmaar should get out of the group. Rangers will be equally happy if not for quite the same reasons. They are not in an easy group per se but they have managed to avoid the big guns of Europe. They could have been paired with any of the big teams and the biggest ones they got are Sevilla and Stuttgrt. No push overs but definitely teams that can be beat with the right tactics and personnel.

So there you have it. Nothing major in the other groups. I expect Chelsea and Atletico Madrid to come out of group D and Liverpool and Fiorentina to make it through group E. Chelsea have Drogba suspended for the first 2 matches, but should progress. Possible banana peel in the Liverpool group will definitely be Lyon. They have not been the force they once were in Europe but still are a dangerous team. Group A is a toss up. There are no clear favorites between Bayern Munich, Juventus, and French Champions Bordeaux. All three will progress in Europe. Only problem is one will be in the Europa League!