Photo courtesy Mickaël Roure (via Wikimedia Commons)
Despite UEFA’s arduous efforts this time of year and the typically overblown hype surrounding the event, the UEFA Champions League group draw often fails to draw many rabbits out of the hat.
This time around, however, football’s European governing body seems to have hit paydirt in a very big way.
Thursday’s draw in Monaco ended up bringing together many interesting bedfellows for the group stage of the competition, with perhaps the biggest story being Kaká and Real Madrid falling into the same group as AC Milan, from whom the Spanish juggernaut bought the Brazilian midfielder for ₤68.5m on June 8.
Milan and Real Madrid were drawn into a competitive Group C with Marseille and Swiss champion FC Zürich, but the so-called ‘group of death’ lies elsewhere. Spare a thought for Israeli champ Maccabi Haifa, as the The Green Demons have been rewarded for their impressive play-off victory over FC Salzburg with a Group A slate against Bayern München, Juventus and Bordeaux.
In fact, only one of this season’s eight newcomers to the Champions League group stage appears to have much of a chance of advancing to the knockout rounds. German champion VfL Wolfsburg is in relatively good shape with its Group B draw, getting Beşiktaş from Turkey, CKSA Moskva and a Manchester United side that finished runner-up last season but is now without Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and – for a few weeks – Rio Ferdinand.
With Die Wölfe retaining the core of its squad after winning the German Bundesliga last season, then, manager Armin Veh’s squad ought to find safe passage through the group if it can take care of business at home and nick a good result or two when it travels east.
The easiest draw by far resulted in a Group H featuring Arsenal (which finished fourth in the Barclays Premier League last season), AZ Alkmaar from Holland, Olympiacos and Belgian side Standard de Liège. In truth, though, none of the four English sides in the competition should have much trouble in the group stage, and Scottish champion Rangers should be competitive in Group G with Sevilla, VfB Stuttgart and Romanian debutant Unirea Urziceni.
The full draw:
Group A: FC Bayern München (GER), Juventus (ITA), FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FRA), Maccabi Haifa FC (ISR)
Group B: Manchester United FC (ENG), PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS), Beşiktaş JK (TUR), VfL Wolfsburg (GER)
Group C: AC Milan (ITA), Real Madrid CF (ESP), Olympique de Marseille (FRA), FC Zürich (SUI)
Group D: Chelsea FC (ENG), FC Porto (POR), Club Atlético de Madrid (ESP), APOEL FC (CYP)
Group E: Liverpool FC (ENG), Olympique Lyonnais (FRA), ACF Fiorentina (ITA), Debreceni VSC (HUN)
Group F: FC Barcelona (ESP), FC Internazionale Milano (ITA), FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR), FC Rubin Kazan (RUS)
Group G: Sevilla FC (ESP), Rangers FC (SCO), VfB Stuttgart (GER), AFC Unirea Urziceni (ROU)
Group H: Arsenal FC (ENG), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Olympiacos FC (GRE), R. Standard de Liège (BEL)
Matthew Semisch
LMSL 
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