Football: Champions League Draw

Draw 1 – Villarreal FC Vs Arsenal FC

The turnaround of fortune continues for Arsenal as they have drawn one of two possible teams that they really wanted, the other being Porto. After beating Roma on a very fortunate night for Arsenal, they had the best Premier League weekend they could have hoped for, beating Blackburn in a emphatic 4-0 win at the Emirates and Aston Villa losing to Arsenal’s bitterest rivals, Tottenham, to get the gunners in fourth spot for the Champions League. A further positive is nearly all their injured players will be back, and for the first time, Arsene Wenger will have a squad with in depth strength and creative options on the bench. Villarreal have had a better season thus far also sitting fourth in the Spanish Premier League, but matching the quality of the sides makes Arsenal the bookies favourite for this tie.

Draw 2 – Manchester United Vs FC Porto

A very fortunate draw for Manchester United, Porto are considered the weakest side remaining, though at one stage they had been tipped as outside favourites to make the final this season, but after losing to Arsenal 4-0 early on in the group stages, and losing one of their key players Ricardo Queresma, they really are up against it in this tie. Man Utd had just suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Liverpool, but they are still tipped to win the Premier League title and the Porto tie may even be considered a breath of fresh air.

Draw 3 – Liverpool FC Vs Chelsea FC

The third draw came in as the most mouth-watering of them all, Liverpool and Chelsea have such a large history in the competition and in the domestic games, with Guus Hiddink bringing out Chelsea’s best form and Liverpool have just come through two monumental wins against two monumental teams so this tie is set up to be something special. Neither team can be happy that their other two domestic rivals got “lucky”, but to win this competition they will have to face the best and beat the best at some point. As both teams are locked in the Premiership on 61 points the game looks dead even, only Chelsea have the advantage with the second leg being at Stamford Bridge.

Draw 4 – FC Bayern Vs FC Barcelona

The two highest scoring teams this season in the champions league lock horns with the first game played at Nou Camp, Barcelona have been on high scoring form in their domestic games recently, but they did show a hint of struggle against Lyon with their back line, and against a stronger opponent a weak defence would be ripped apart with ease, as Liverpool showed against Barca’s rivals Read Madrid in the first stage. Bayern are just fresh from beating Sporting by 12 goals over 2 legs, it was pure free-flow football from the German side and they are now full of confidence and really have nothing to lose against Barca who are considered one of two favourites to pick up the title, it should be an interesting clash.

Champions League Draw: The Review

As always, these draws are complete snooze-fests with all the speeches and blah blah blah. This year was no different but we eventually got down to business and everyone woke up! So here’s a round up of the draw (the key fixtures etc).

“Group of Death”
Group H is this years so called “Group of Death” as it’s filled with three big teams: Real Madrid, Juventus and Super Cup winners Zenit. There will be some interesting encounters on show as Real Madrid have won the trophy the most times, Juventus have a very strong team and Zenit look amazingly sharp and play very well as a team. Borisov will have a fun time in this group (the fourth club).

Possible Upsets
There aren’t that many possible upsets this year, but one could be group F in which Fiorentina may go through at the expence of Bayern or Lyon. Panathinkaikos could also cause an upset in group B by qualifying instead of Weder Bremen alongside Inter Milan. Celtic could also nick Villareal’s place in Man Utd’s group but I don’t see that one happening.

Other Groups/Matches to Keep an Eye On
Arsenal in group G will have a tough time as they’ve drawn three very tricky teams to play against. Still should qualify but anything can happen in the game of football. Liverpool are in a similar situation in group D but having more strength in depth and generally being awesome in the Champions League should see them through.

Overall this years Champions League is shaping up to be good entertainment, but I still hope to see some surprises in addition to tougher fixtures making it and cup worth remembering. As for my predicition on the winner, well it’s tough to say as I haven’t seen all the teams play. Man Utd don’t look amazing at the moment but Ronaldo will soon be back. Arsenal are not Arsenal. Liverpool tend to be great in the Champions League but probably need the pope to die for them to win it again. Chelsea are probably the best bet out of the English teams especially with the signing of Deco.

View the full draw here