Champions League: Group Stage Draw discussion

All La Liga teams can top their groups. Those coefficient ratings gonna sky rocket.

Disagree on Benfica RG, lost too many players and replacements don't seem all that.

Monaco would have been my pick pre transfer window but not now, gonna go with main man AVB I think.

Well except some first placed teams being 2nd and vice versa anyway.

Yea I wasn't sure about that. Guess that group is unpredictable.

RealGunner wrote:Not a good draw overall but still interesting matches with new teams involves like Roma and Liverpool.


Group A: Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Olympiacos, Malmo

Atletico and Juve to battle for the first obviously. H2H between those two should determine that. But Olympiacos away is tricky. Malmo

1) Juve 2) Atletico 3)Olympiacos 4)Malmo

Group B: Real Madrid, Basel, Liverpool, Ludogorets

Madrid and Liverpool obvious favourites. Their own matches will be great. Not sure about Basel away though.

1) Madrid 2) Liverpool 3) Basel 4) Ludogorets

Group C: Benfica, Zenit, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco

No one cares about this group. If Falcao stays then it gets interesting. Otherwise whatever.

1) Leverkusen 2) Benfica 3) Zenit 4) Monaco

Group D: Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray, Anderlecht

Dortmund AGAIN for the 3rd time in 4 years. But we should be alright. Better than last year.

1) Arsenal 2) Dortmund 3) Galatasaray 4) Anderlecht

Group E: Bayern Munich, Manchester City, CSKA Moscow, Roma

Unlucky Roma. Bayern and City again. This time can see City progress beyond.

1) City 2) Bayern 3) Roma 4) Moscow

Group F: Barcelona, PSG, Ajax, APOEL,

Barca n PSG again lol. Poor Ajax n APOEL.

1) Bracelona 2) PSG 3) Ajax 4) APOEL

Group G: Chelsea, Schalke, Sporting Lisbon, Maribor

LOL chelsea getting an extremely difficult group again.

1) Chelsea 2) Schalke 3) Lisbon 4) Haribo Sweets

Group H: FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao, BATE Borisov

Another group no one cares about. Usually there is only one of those but we get two this time.

1) Porto 2) Bilbao 3) Shaktar Donetsk 4) Bate Motel

I think group C will be alot of fun. All those teams are around the same level, that groups going to be a fight.

Quite happy with that draw for Liverpool, honestly.

Madrid should finish top of the group comfortably and our main goal will likely be to ensure they can't exact "Revenge" for the last meetings between the two clubs. Still having such a big club (and last season's winners) coming to Anfield will ensure that we truly experience the return of CL footy to the club and will provide great experience for our squad.

With all due respect to Ludogorets Razgrad, I'll be quite shocked if they get more than a point or two in the group stages. They have no real home stadium and have the makings of the 7th club since the 11/12 season to lose all of their group stage matches. They should finish bottom by a similar margin to Madrid finishing top.

That leaves Liverpool and Basel to battle it out for 2nd and 3rd, and both clubs are pretty well matched in my eyes. I'll be looking forward to seeing Basel's tactical approach and staunch defense up against our attacking options and think both clubs will consider themselves favourites at home but be wary of the away matches. If may indeed come down to whether either side gets held by Ludogorets and I fancy Liverpool's chances against them due to our more prolific attack.

Even if we do finish third (a real possibility) I'd consider it an acceptable showing so long as we don't get embarrassed in any of the matches and it will provide fantastic experience and lessons for both our squad AND Rodgers himself who has no real experience at this level yet. I would fancy us to make a good run in the EL as well... while the same can be said for Basel, I assume.

About the only thing I would possibly change is replacing Madrid with Bayern or Barca... simply because I'd love to have an Anfield reunion with Alonso (likely) and Reina or Mascherano and Suarez respectively. It's only a minor gripe though, and I'm just ecstatic to be back in the CL and in what should be an interesting and well-situated group.

RealGunner wrote:Not a good draw overall but still interesting matches with new teams involves like Roma and Liverpool.


Group A: Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Olympiacos, Malmo

Atletico and Juve to battle for the first obviously. H2H between those two should determine that. But Olympiacos away is tricky. Malmo

1) Juve 2) Atletico 3)Olympiacos 4)Malmo

Group B: Real Madrid, Basel, Liverpool, Ludogorets

Madrid and Liverpool obvious favourites. Their own matches will be great. Not sure about Basel away though.

1) Madrid 2) Liverpool 3) Basel 4) Ludogorets

Group C: Benfica, Zenit, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco

No one cares about this group. If Falcao stays then it gets interesting. Otherwise whatever.

1) Leverkusen 2) Benfica 3) Zenit 4) Monaco

Group D: Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray, Anderlecht

Dortmund AGAIN for the 3rd time in 4 years. But we should be alright. Better than last year.

1) Arsenal 2) Dortmund 3) Galatasaray 4) Anderlecht

Group E: Bayern Munich, Manchester City, CSKA Moscow, Roma

Unlucky Roma. Bayern and City again. This time can see City progress beyond.

1) City 2) Bayern 3) Roma 4) Moscow

Group F: Barcelona, PSG, Ajax, APOEL,

Barca n PSG again lol. Poor Ajax n APOEL.

1) Bracelona 2) PSG 3) Ajax 4) APOEL

Group G: Chelsea, Schalke, Sporting Lisbon, Maribor

LOL chelsea getting an extremely difficult group again.

1) Chelsea 2) Schalke 3) Lisbon 4) Haribo Sweets

Group H: FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Athletic Bilbao, BATE Borisov

Another group no one cares about. Usually there is only one of those but we get two this time.

1) Porto 2) Bilbao 3) Shaktar Donetsk 4) Bate Motel

Good analysis.Me like

Is this last years CL or something wtf is this shit?

-barca vs psg/ajax again?

-chelsea vs schalke again?

-porto vs shakter again?

-city vs bayern/cska moskva AGAIN? LMFAO

-Arsenal vs dortmund AGAIN?

-Weren't atletico and juve in the same group a couple of years ago as well?

This is starting to piss me off. We are lucky we have liverpool and a great roma to mix it up this year.

RedOranje wrote:Quite happy with that draw for Liverpool, honestly.

Madrid should finish top of the group comfortably and our main goal will likely be to ensure they can't exact "Revenge" for the last meetings between the two clubs.  Still having such a big club (and last season's winners) coming to Anfield will ensure that we truly experience the return of CL footy to the club and will provide great experience for our squad.

With all due respect to Ludogorets Razgrad, I'll be quite shocked if they get more than a point or two in the group stages.  They have no real home stadium and have the makings of the 7th club since the 11/12 season to lose all of their group stage matches.  They should finish bottom by a similar margin to Madrid finishing top.

That leaves Liverpool and Basel to battle it out for 2nd and 3rd, and both clubs are pretty well matched in my eyes.  I'll be looking forward to seeing Basel's tactical approach and staunch defense up against our attacking options and think both clubs will consider themselves favourites at home but be wary of the away matches.  If may indeed come down to whether either side gets held by Ludogorets and I fancy Liverpool's chances against them due to our more prolific attack.  

Even if we do finish third (a real possibility) I'd consider it an acceptable showing so long as we don't get embarrassed in any of the matches and it will provide fantastic experience and lessons for both our squad AND Rodgers himself who has no real experience at this level yet.  I would fancy us to make a good run in the EL as well... while the same can be said for Basel, I assume.  

About the only thing I would possibly change is replacing Madrid with Bayern or Barca... simply because I'd love to have an Anfield reunion with Alonso (likely) and Reina or Mascherano and Suarez respectively.  It's only a minor gripe though, and I'm just ecstatic to be back in the CL and in what should be an interesting and well-situated group.

With all due respect Red, our CL campaign would be a total failure should be finish below Basel.

This is not the Basel with Shaqiri, Xhaka, Stocker, Sommer, etc...they've lost all their players AND their manager. Managed by Paulo Sousa, former Swansea/Leicester reject manager over the past 3 years.

This is a totally new team, finding their feat. A team that lost 5-0 to a depleted Valencia team in EL quarters last season.

I'm not gonna try and sugar coat it, we must do something very very wrong to finish behind them. We won't though.

Very happy with our group, will be great to face a major European club again, the current holders nevertheless.

Basel did the double on Chelsea last season, so can't take anything for granted, but still, happy with that group.


Otherwise it was a dull draw, like people have been pointing out.

Man City, Bayern Munich and CSKA Moscow were in the same group last season, too.

Chelsea and Schalke were in the same group last season.

Arsenal and Dortmund were in the same group last season.

Barcelona and Ajax were in the same group last season.


Benfica, Zenit, Leverkusen and Monaco is an interesting group as any of them can progress, but overall this group stage is looking a little boring with quite straightforward groups and a sense of repetition. Hopefully there'll be a few upsets and good quality football, though.

Barcelona faced PSG two years ago in the quarter-finals, so I don't think it's a negative they've been drawn in the same group this year. The other "re-matches" between big clubs are a bit boring to have again in the group stage.

Tbh i'd rather the repeats took place in the groups, giving us a fresh load of knockout games.

Absolute nonsense, Sepi... absolute nonsense. Basel are a side worthy of respect and have a very solid side that we cannot afford to underestimate. You positively adore writing sides off unnecessarily and then if/when Liverpool don't smash them going into your own personal spiral of depression and knee-jerking about our inevitable demise as a club. It's the same every season and you really need to learn.

^ I never said I don't respect them or take the seriously. You said our campaign won't be a failure if we finish below them, It will.

Look at the size/money that has gone into our squad and compare it to Basel's who have sold all their best players and manager.

It's like Juve fans claiming finishing below Galatasaray (A team with far more resources and money than Basel) wasn't a failure last year.

can laliga own 5 team in ucl if they continue to increase the gap of those coefficient rating thing?

Natalie Portman wrote:^ I never said I don't respect them or take the seriously. You said our campaign won't be a failure if we finish below them, It will.

Look at the size/money that has gone into our squad and compare it to Basel's who have sold all their best players and manager.

It's like Juve fans claiming finishing below Galatasaray (A team with far more resources and money than Basel) wasn't a failure last year.

So if we finish 3rd in the CL group, top 4, win the CoC or FA Cup, and make a deep run in the EL that would be a failure in your eyes? Again... you set ridiculous targets and make sweeping blanket statements basically to set yourself up for some apocalyptic knee-jerk and then about-face later on. It's predictable and trite.

The comparison with Juve is just asinine and not even worth addressing in depth as well.

terrance511 wrote:can laliga own 5 team in ucl if they continue to increase the gap of those coefficient rating thing?

No but if a Spanish team wins the EL (again lol) then next year they could have 5 teams in the CL (depending on 4th place qualifiers)

Zealous wrote:

terrance511 wrote:can laliga own 5 team in ucl if they continue to increase the gap of those coefficient rating thing?

No but if a Spanish team wins the EL (again lol) then next year they could have 5 teams in the CL (depending on 4th place qualifiers)

wait
im confused, u meant if a non top 4 laliga team win europa league, they will have 5 teams in uefa champion league on nex season?

Yep. Same with England or Germany.

but sevilla not in ucl this season?

It's only as of next season the the EL champion will play in the CL.

u meant it's new rule/system that starting next season?

Yes.

ok lol, thanks

"There are a total of 15 Champions League titles in Group B. The closest in any other group, is 8 in Group F"

A question regarding last night's match between Napoli and Bilbao

How is this not offside?

https://vine.co/v/Ml9M3ME2gUt

It technically is.

But the offsides rule is all kinds of wonky and the referee/linesmen blew the call.