LIVE NOW! Champions League group stage draw

Ollie Irish

30th, August 2007

16 Comments

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Hello one and all and welcome to Pies’ live blog of the draw for the group stages of the 2007/08 Champions League, from Monaco.
In other news, Sky Sports News has just announced that David Dein has sold his remaining stake in Arsenal, to a Russian billionaire. Ooh! Nothing much happening in Monaco yet, but don’t forget to refresh this page for updates…
Okay, great time for our publishing platform to go down, but it’s back up just in time. Nothing else has happened in Monaco, save for an explanation of the draw. Yawn. Get on with it UEFA…
And we’re off…
First club drawn is AC Milan, the holders. They go in Group D.
Second club drawn is Arsenal, competing in the CL for the 10th consecutive season. They go into Group H.
Third out of the pot is Man Utd, winners in and 1968 and 1999. They are drawn in Group F.
Next up from the pot of top seeds is Barcelona, my tip for the title. Barca go into Group E.
Real Madrid are next out. Nine times they’ve won this thing. Greedy buggers. They go into Group C. Quickly followed by Inter Milan, who go into Group G.
Now come Liverpool, beaten finalists last season. The Scousers end up in Group A. Finally from the top seeds… Chelsea, who are put in Group B. That concludes part one of the draw. Exciting, huh!
Oh dear, in between each part of the draw, we have some useless UEFA awards for the best players from last season’s CL (Petr Cech won best keeper earlier on). Tintin’s dad, Ronald Koeman, has been wheeled out to present the award for best defender. They’re announcing the nominations now…
And the award goes to… envelope being opened… Paolo Maldini, AC Milan’s phenomenal skipper. Had to be really. Maldini is speaking Italian now (funny that). He’s dressed all in black and his hair looks very slick.
So, back to the draw, and now we’re about to have the teams from the second tier of seeds drawn, aka Pot Two. Maldini is pulling out the balls…
First team out is PSV Eindhoven, who can go in any group. The group they go in is… Group G, containing Inter Milan as top seeds. Second out is Valencia. No top team will want to draw them. Valencia are placed in Group B, with Chelsea. Not great for Jose Mourinho.
Next, Werder Bremen. The Germans go into Group C, alongside Real Madrid.
Sevilla or AEK Athens (who haven’t played due to the death of Antonio Puerta) then are drawn in Group H, with Arsenal. The Gooners won’t fancy facing Sevilla, if the Spaniards can get through.
Lyon up now. The French team goes into Group E, with Barcelona. Tasty, very tasty.
Benfica, who could land Groups A, D or F. They get… drum roll please… Group D, which is AC Milan’s group. A little smile from Maldini.
AS Roma now. They will end up with an English team, either Man Utd or Liverpool. They go into Group F, which is Man Utd’s group. A replay of last year’s knockout tie, when Man Yoo tonked Roma.
Then Porto are inevitably placed in Group A, with Liverpool. Rafa will be reasonably happy with that, I should imagine.
Didier Deschamps is invited out to award best midfielder from last season’s CL. Gattuso, Stevie G, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Scholes and Clarence Seedorf are all nominated. I guess it will go to Gattuso… nope, it goes to Clarence Seedorf. Not a bad shout really. Class act. Like Maldini, he is dressed all in black, Milan’s formal club uniform.
On to Pot Three now, which contains Celtic. Right, we’re off again…
First club out is Schalke 04. They can’t be in Group C with Bremen. They are drawn in Group B, with Chelsea and Valencia.
Next out is Celtic. Bet they’re with an English club… but no, they end up in Group D, with AC Milan and Benfica. Tough for Wee Gordon Strachan.
Then come Lazio. They can only be in Groups A or C. And they end up in C, with Real Madrid and Bremen.
Sporting of Portugal are out next. They are drawn in Group F, along with Man Utd and Roma. Fergie should be happier with that one, I reckon.
CSKA Moscow. No one like a trip to Moscow. The Russians end up in Group G, with Inter and Eindhoven. Arsenal dodged a bullet there.
VfB Stuttgart are our next contestants. The Germans are in Group E, with Barcelona and Lyon. Very tough draw for them.
Bucharest go into Group H, with Arsenal and Sevilla/Athens. And then Marseille are drawn in Group A, with Liverpool or Porto. Not bad at all for Liverpool.
To recap so far…
A Liverpool, Porto, Marseille
B Chelsea, Valencia, Schalke 04
C Real Madrid, Werder Bremen, Lazio
D Milan, Benfica, Celtic
E Barcelona, Lyon, Stuttgart
F Man Utd, Roma, Sporting Portugal
G Inter Milan, PSV, CSKA Moscow
H Arsenal, Sevilla/Athens, Bucharest
Nothing too much to fear for the English clubs I feel, although Celtic have it tough in Group D. Oh, and Kaka just won striker of the season, as expected. Justice done, although he could have gone in the midfield category.
Final pot of teams about to be drawn now…
Olympiakos are chosen first. They end up in Group C, which now is complete and looks like this:
GROUP C Real Madrid, Werder Bremen, Lazio, Olympiakos
Rangers are out next, and they could get one of the English clubs in with them. The Scottish team are drawn in Group E, which is another painful blow for Scottish football.
GROUP E Barcelona, Lyon, Stuttgart, Rangers
Dynamo Kiev then go in Group F, Man Utd’s group:
GROUP F Man Utd, Roma, Sporting Portugal, Dynamo Kiev
Besiktas go in Liverpool’s group…
GROUP A Liverpool, Porto, Marseille, Besiktas. Some lively away games for the Pool there!
Rosenborg of Norway join Chelsea’s group, B:
GROUP B Chelsea, Valencia, Schalke 04, Rosenborg. Could be worse for Jose.
Shaktar Donetsk then go in Group D, with Milan, Benfica and Celtic.
Arsenal then are joined by Slavia Prague:
GROUP H Arsenal, Sevilla/Athens, Bucharest, Slavia Prague
Then Fenerbache fill the draw. They go in Group G:
GROUP G Inter Milan, PSV, CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahce
Phew, that was fun, in a way. So the full group draw looks like this:
GROUP A Liverpool, Porto, Marseille, Besiktas
GROUP B Chelsea, Valencia, Schalke 04, Rosenborg
GROUP C Real Madrid, Werder Bremen, Lazio, Olympiakos
GROUP D Milan, Benfica, Celtic, Shaktar Donetsk
GROUP E Barcelona, Lyon, Stuttgart, Rangers
GROUP F Man Utd, Roma, Sporting Portugal, Dynamo Kiev
GROUP G Inter Milan, PSV, CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahce
GROUP H Arsenal, Sevilla/Athens, Bucharest, Slavia Prague
I’d say the English teams will be content with that, whilst the Scottish giants face a major task to qualify. Man Utd’s group is perhaps the trickiest for the Premier League teams. I fully expect Arsenal to get out of Group H, although Sevilla could cause them problems if they qualify. Chelsea should be too strong for Rosenborg and Schalke, but Valencia are strong. However, Chelsea could have had it worse. Liverpool will be happy enough.
Thanks for listening and thanks for your comments. If you’re a Rangers fan, I offer my condolences for you ending up in the bona fide Group of Death, with the champions of Spain, France and Germany. Painful.

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16 Comments

  1. Louwrens says:

    gattusso was robbed!

  2. dp says:

    If this doesn’t go to Kaka, something is seriously wrong with the world.

  3. Marek says:

    Why would liverpool be happy to get porto? are you drunk already?

  4. dp says:

    All is right with the world…except for Iraq

  5. dp says:

    @Marek: Because we’ve won it five times, we’ve won it fiiive tiiiiiimes

  6. Louwrens says:

    and possibly darfur, some would argue

  7. Barty Keane says:

    Kaka is sooo over-rated it’s unreal. He would struggle to find a place at Chelsea this season. What has he ever done?
    Exactly.

  8. dp says:

    He created Inzaghi’s second in the final last year…though, to be fair, that was only after Mascherano was taken off–he marked him clear out of the game for 85 minutes.

  9. Sanjay says:

    Barty,
    About time somebody spoke the truth. Kaka is consistenly marked out of games when not playing a team from the inferior league that is Italian football. What’s more, his hair is silly and his name is rubbish.
    I prefer Iain Dowie…

  10. dp says:

    @Louwrens: of course, that is, if anyone were paying attention

  11. Louwrens says:

    and won the free kick for the first goal… and single-handedly annhialated man u (ok to be fair gattusso’s defence helped). he would struggle at chelsea.. cause they play boring football and wont be able to accomodate a free, creative midfield genius with flair

  12. Louwrens says:

    @ dp: yes, that would be great

  13. andrew says:

    wow … group E is gonna be a good one. you’ve got the french champions, the german champions, and the second place spanish and scottish teams.

  14. ze says:

    if kaka, ronaldinho and c.ronaldo ar soooo overrated, who the fuck is good then ?

  15. Grainy says:

    “with the champions of Spain, France and Germany. Painful”
    Sorry for being such a pedantic sod, but Barca came second remember.

  16. Murfmensch says:

    This is a mostly British and Irish site and those leagues use goal difference instead of head-to-head.
    This means La Liga fans in Britain (and the US) should view Barca as the winner. Ollie Irish is just unusually perceptive, once again.