For those of you that don't know, the draw is today (16:45). Who are you hoping we play or avoid? Pot 1 AC Milan, Arsenal, Barcelona, Bayern Munich Chelsea, Manchester United, Porto, Real Madrid Pot 2 Benfica, Braga, Dynamo Kiev, Manchester City Schalke, Shaktar Donetsk, Valencia, Zenit St. Petersburg Pot 3 Anderlecht, Ajax, Galatasaray, Juventus Lille, Paris St-Germain, Olympiacos, Spartak Moscow Pot 4 BATE Borisov, Borussia Dortmund, Celtic, CFR Cluj Dinamo Zagreb, Malaga, Montpellier, Nordsjaelland 1 team from each pot goes into each group, and we can't be drawn in a group with any English teams. Pot 2 is a tough one because the 3 weakest teams (potentially) are all a long way away, which will affect the league form. (Dynamo Kiev, Shaktar Donetsk & Zenit) And there are some big boys lurking in pot 3, I hope City land one of them... My dream group would be: Manchester United, Braga, Anderlecht, Nordsjaelland Worst nightmare: Manchester United, Valencia/Benfica, Juventus/Paris St-Germain, Borussia Dortmund T(h)oughts? EDIT: Groups drawn: GROUP A Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Paris St Germain, Dinamo Zagreb GROUP B Arsenal, Schalke, Olympiakos, Montpellier GROUP C AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht, Malaga GROUP D Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund GROUP E Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus, Nordsjaelland GROUP F Bayern Munich, Valencia, Lille, BATE Borisov GROUP G Barcelona, Benfica, Spartak Moscow, Celtic GROUP H Manchester United, Braga, Galatasaray, Cluj
Ideally i think we could actually do with a slightly harder group. To help avoid the complacency and weak line-ups that made us the butt of many a joke last year. Braga, Olympiacos and Celtic maybe?
City, PSG, Dortmund. **** it, an 'easy' one last year did us no favours. *Note; I know we can't draw City. Before you start*
They also qualified for the CL group stage in that same year, and have played European football every one of the last five years. Puts them on a par with City in terms of recent European achievements, hence pot 2. Schalke, Ajax and Celtic for me. No long flights, less fatigue in the league. Tho' I would quite fancy a bit of Clunj
They came third in Portugal last year, so should be the easiest one outside the eastern teams, which implies a long journey. They're like the Arsenal of Portugal - always comfortable and consistent around the European spots, but rarely threatening to ever win anything
Just hope we are not as f**king complacent as last year. That was supposed to be the easiest group and we contrived to get beaten away twice. Surely we cant be as bad?
We'd love a team with a B in it. Barcelona, benfica and Bayern just can't beat us. Basel are unavailable; so we'll have to settle for Borussia
Ironically enough, only teams with a B have been able to beat us in Europe for the past five years. So by that logic all we have to do is not get drawn against Benifica/Braga and Borussia/BATE and we'll sail on through
An easy draw would be great but thought the same last year and we got knocked out after getting one of the easiest groups in the competition. The team should have learnt their lessons from last seasons diabolic performances in the group stages.
We'll be alright then. Barcelona and Bilbao are the only Spanish sides beginning with B, and we can't be drawn against them Pretty sure Complacency are only in the Europa League this year...
Most of the teams I'd want to avoid are in the same pot as us. As long as we can minimize travel we should get out of the group.
