Group Stage [R]

[kevbrunton]

With the 3rd round of qualifying now complete, the stage is set for the drawing tomorrow. The 32 teams are:

Automatic Qualifiers:

Ajax (Hol)
Arsenal (Eng)
Bayer Leverkusen (Ger)
Borussia Dortmund (Ger)
Deportivo La Coruna (Spa)
Galatsaray (Tur)
Juventus (Ita)
Lens (Fra)
Liverpool (Eng)
Olympique Lyonnais (Fra)
Olympiakos Piraeus (Gre)
PSV Eindhoven (Hol)
Real Madrid (Spa)
Roma (Ita)
Spartak Moscow (Rus)
Valencia (Spa)

The other qualifiers are:

AC Milan (Ita)
AEK Athens (Gre)
Auxerre (Fra)
Barcelona (Spa)
Basel (Swi)
Bayern Munich (Ger)
Club Brugge (Bel)
Dynamo Kiev (Ukr)
Feyenoord (Hol)
Haifa (Isr)
Inter Milan (Ita)
Lokomotiv Moscow (Rus)
Manchester United (Eng)
Newcastle United (Eng)
Racing Genk (Bel)
Rosenborg (Nor)


The final team count by country is:

Spain, Italy & England -- 4 each
Germany, Holland & France -- 3 each
Belgium, Greece & Russia -- 2 each
Israel, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey & Ukraine -- 1 each.

[Spartak]

Here are the seedings:

Pot 1
Real Madrid
Bayern Munich
Manchester United
FC Barcelona
Valencia
Juventus
Arsenal
Internazionale

Pot 2
Deportivo La Coruna
Bayer Leverkusen
Liverpool
Galatasaray
AS Roma
Olympique Lyon
Borussia Dortmund
Feyenoord

Pot 3
AC Milan
PSV Eindhoven
Dynamo Kiev
Spartak Moscow
Lokomotiv Moscow
Olympiakos Piraeus
AEK Athens
Ajax

Pot 4
Rosenborg BK
RC Lens
Newcastle United
Club Brugge
AJ Auxerre
Racing Genk
Maccabi Haifa
FC Basel

[Clan]

How the hell did Inter pull that one off???????

[NASL Fan]

Originally posted by Clanblue
How the hell did Inter pull that one off???????

Isn't it all derived from some coefficient system? Looks like Inter is the 8th seed, which is a bit surprising since Bayer Leverkusen, CL finalists last year, are 10th.

And I bet you the advertisers are really thrilled to see the last two teams at the bottom there in the "lucrative" CL... Maccabi Haifa and FC Basel

[Clan]

They do use some sort of ranking system, but i didn't think Inter would make it.
Deportivo, bayer and the scouse have done well in the past few yeras whilst Inter ae all have been noted for their early dismisals from European competition.

Wonder if they will be playing games in Israel or forcing them to play their "home" games elsewhere.

[Spartak]

Go here for the full list of rankings.
http://www.xs4all.nl/%7Ekassiesa/bert/uefa/trank02.html

[thepremierleague]

Newcastle are way ahead of any of the crap in pot 4. They haven't been in Europe enough though, and have been pretty crap the last 4 years before Bobby took over.

On current form however Newcastle should be in pot 3 at least, and Inter pot 2.

[Syncope]

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/UCL/news/Kind=1/newsId=31360.html

[AFCA]

PSV are both in pot 2 and 3.

[SueB]

Inter won the UEFA Cup not too many years ago. There is no difference in for the sake of the coefficients between winning a game in the UEFA Cup and winning games in the Champions League.

[Treetaliano]

Job goes to Group D

[BuffloSoldier]

Easy Group of Death is G; Milan, Deportivo and Bayern. Doesn't even matter who the fourth team is, that's the toughest foursome.

[benine]

Group G....jesus. Munich, Depor and a Rivaldo'd Milan...nuts. Newcastle should have no excuses to qualify, very low-key group they drew.
And another year, another easy draw for the Arse...bastards.

[Treetaliano]

Favorable draw for JOB and Ajax

Inter
Lyon
Ajax
Rosenborg

[BuffloSoldier]

Arsenal's draw is not that easy; Dortmund, PSV and Auxerre is pretty strong.

And Newcastle has Juventus, Feyenoord, and Kiev. That isn't easy at all.

[BuffloSoldier]

Full list:

Group A:
Arsenal
Borussia Dortmund
PSV Eindhoven
Auxerre

Group B:
Valencia
Liverpool
Spartak Moscow
Basel

Group C:
Real Madrid
Roma
AEK Athens
Genk

Group D:
Inter Milan
Lyon
Ajax
Rosenborg

Group E:
Juventus
Feyenoord
Dynamo Kiev
Newcastle United

Group F:
Manchester United
Bayer Leverkusen
Olympiakos
Maccabi Haifa

Group G:
Bayern Munich
Deportivo La Coruna
AC Milan
Lens

Group H:
Barcelona
Galatasaray
Lokomotiv Moscow
Brugge

[bert patenaude]

Originally posted by Treetaliano
Favorable draw for JOB and Ajax

Inter
Lyon
Ajax
Rosenborg

Great news. Ajax has no excuses.

[Treetaliano]

Originally posted by bert patenaude


Great news. Ajax has no excuses.

It was between D and C..they could have had Roma and Real Madrid at that point...the guy picked the correct green ball :P You've got to like their chances of getting to the 2nd group phase

Looks like I am off to Milan sometime in the next few months...have the dates for these matches already all been decided before hand?

[Syncope]

Why not promote ManU to the second group stage now?

[Treetaliano]

Originally posted by Syncope
Why not promote ManU to the second group stage now?

They just were (like every year)