Champions League Draw: Arsenal Face Dortmund, Man City Get Bayern Munich, Celtic Handed A Real Stinker

Alan Duffy

29th, August 2013

6 Comments

By Alan Duffy

Soccer - UEFA Champions League - Group F - Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund - Emirates Stadium

Arsenal have a tough challenge ahead of them in this season’s Champions League after drawing Marseille (nice enough), Borussia Dortmund (bloody awful) and Napoli (very tough) in an extremely demanding Group F. Interestingly, the Gunners, Marseille and Dortmund have now been drawn in the same group in two of the last three seasons.

Premier League champions  Manchester United will be happy with their lot of Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Sociedad.

Europa League holders Chelsea will be more than satisfied with Schalke, Basel and Steaua Bucharest while Manchester City face holders Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen, a group they really should get out of.

Scots giants Celtic, fresh from their dramatic win against Shakhter Karagandy have probably the toughest group of them all, with Barcelona, AC Milan and Ajax, all European royalty, lying in wait for the Bhoys. Oh dear.

Here’s the draw in full…

Group A: Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad

Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, Copenhagen

Group C: Benfica, Paris St-Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht

Group D: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen

Group E: Chelsea, Schalke, Basel, Steaua Bucharest

Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli

Group G: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna

Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic

Posted in Arsenal, Champions League, Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Newsnow, Scottish football

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6 Comments

  1. s says:

    I would say Chelsea got an okay group. But that is exactly what I said last year.

  2. qwert says:

    I would say Man City have a pretty easy go of it for once, they should be able to get second easily.

    United’s group is by no means a breeze – Shaktar lost some great players in the summer but spent 60 mil on replacements. Leverkusen finished 10 pts ahead of shalke in the bundesliga so they must be doing something right and Sociedad have some really great players.

    Chelsea = easy.

    Arsenal – tough but not impossible. While Dortmund are very good, Marseille are definitely beatable and Napoli have lost Cavani and gained Benitez

  3. Wilson says:

    United – all 3 teams present a challenge, but home wins against all 3 are expected

    City – surely beating Plzen and CSKA isn’t too much? (I hope they bloody fail though)

    Cheslea – Mourinho should/must be laughing his arse off now

    Arsenal – unlikely to top the group, might not even get past group stages if Wenger doesn’t spend some fucking money

    Celtic – yer damn well fucked, lads

  4. Stexxx says:

    Bad for Arsenal. Dortmund and Napoli(without Cavani, but with Hamsik, Higuain, Pandev, Inler, Callejon and Berhami).

  5. Fsam says:

    in 2010-2011,
    Arsenal got four points against Marseille and four points against Dortmund when they had Lewandowski, Sahin, Goetze, Kagawa etc on the pitch.

    Make no mistake, and forgo the sensationlist dross that permeates Arsenal news and op-eds currently. They are pot A, (not pot C or D) team for a reason. Not many neutrals see this but the first XI has been developing a very strong connection in the last 25 odd fixtures and as long as they make support the squad with the bodies their short of, they will be favorites to qualify.

    Given the unpredictability of the competition, it will be a very close call as to who tops it.

  6. s says:

    man u and chelsea should easily top their group, although basel could be a wildcard. man city will struggle against bayern but should make it through. arsenal will finish bottom of the group because they dont have a CL squad. at least rangers will enjoy seeing celtic fry

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