Champions League Group Stage Draw

[Inara]

Tomorrow, UEFA will be holding the group stage draw for the CL. Lyon are automatically qualified but are in the second pot (because of poor results in the 2002/2003 season - should Lyon advance beyond the group stages, they will be seeded in 2008/2009).

Anyway, what teams do you hope Lyon play? Each group will consist of a team from each pot. We can't play against any other Pot 2 teams or against Marseille. All other teams are fair game.


Pot 1
AC Milan (winners)
FC Barcelona
Liverpool
Internazionale
Arsenal
Real Madrid
Chelsea
Manchester United


Pot 2

Valencia
Olympique Lyon
FC Porto
Sevilla
PSV Eindhoven
AS Roma
Benfica
Werder Bremen


Pot 3

Celtic
Schalke 04
VfB Stuttgart
Steaua Bucuresti
CSKA Moscow
Sporting CP Lisbon
Lazio Roma
Olympique Marseille


Pot 4

Glasgow Rangers
Shakhtar Donetsk
Besiktas
Olympiakos Piraeus
Dinamo Kiev
Fenerbahçe
Slavia Praha
Rosenborg BK



I always like it when Lyon play a team they've never encountered before, and the fact that Lyon have played most of these teams at least once is indicative of a growing European history.

Despite the four pots, there are a lot of strong teams, and there are very few teams that can be called "easy."


A Possible Group of Death:

Liverpool
Lyon
CSKA Moscow
Rangers


A Not Really Easy Group:

Arsenal
Lyon
Sporting
Slavia Praha

[Breakwood]

I wonder if we'll get Real Madrid again?

[Inara]

I wonder if we'll get Real Madrid again?

That would be pretty funny, but I don't think we'll do well against them this year. The combination of Diarra, RvN, and Robben makes my head hurt for some reason.

Plus I think last year's loss to Roma in the Gerland really took away from the sense if invincibility about the place. It would be one thing to lose away, but such a-in-your-face defeat at home by Roma, breaking a 27 game undefeated streak at home in Europe, suddenly means that even a team we have dominated for two years straight can easily bring us down.

And remember what Mourinho said about Lyon when he was with Porto? That more people come to Porto's training sessions than to Lyon's home games.

[SportBoy333]

Arsenal are the weakest team in pot 1 so it would be good to draw them. Looking at pots 3 and 4 I dont think its clear who are the easiest.

[Nyghtewynd]

Lyon drawn into group E with Barca so far...

[Inara]

Stuttgart is the third club. Crap, it's looking like a group of death almost.

[Nyghtewynd]

...and VfB Stuttgart...

[Inara]

And Rangers! Shit.

SHIT.

That's a really hard group. Perhaps the hardest.

[Nyghtewynd]

Unless their form improves soon, Lyon may be fourth out of four in that group.

[Vfbstuttgartfan]

Well, we're in the same group.

I'd say this will be a tough group for all teams, it's hard for me to find a tougher group than this one out of all the 8 there are. I'd say overall Barca are clearly the big favourites. Lyon i'd rank above Stuttgart at the moment, though neither side is presently on great form, and i do think it'll be a close fight between the two sides.

And we mustn't count out Rangers, who will also be a real tough opponent and also stand a fair chance at making it through to the last 16.

Loooking forward to the 6 group stage games :)

[SportBoy333]

Unless their form improves soon, Lyon may be fourth out of four in that group.

I doubt it. Stuttgart and Rangers arent that imposing.

[lefutur]

hey, we own Real Madrid....why not Barca? :rolleyes:

[navid90]

ya i feel so confident with perrin aye? we beat madrid with houllier pulling the strings....Champions League is all about tactics and with all due respect i dont think perrin has what it takes in terms of experience and tactical wit....im worried for us to be honest cuz he can barely keep up in ligue un so much for out-witting frank riijkard

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

OL will likely get through the group. They have a lot more quality than Rangers and much more experience than Stuttgart.

[guignol]

let's face it, out of hat 1 you're going to get a toughie; arsenal would have been the "easy" draw but don't count arsène out yet. barça is a more than OK draw here.

rangers aren't what they were, both ukrainian clubs would have been worse, olympiakos too, and perhaps even the turks... and they're the easiest club to travel to and the only one in the hat with a proper pitch.

the bad news is stuttgart. remember you only have to be second, so it's not important whether you draw arsenal or milan. real luck is getting sporting and RFK instead of schalke and dynamo kiev!

no, the draw isn't what worries me; what i'm anxious about is our back line! if we had cris i'd feel up to anything that bingo game can dish out!

[Catfish]

I think OL has a tough group.
Didn't Stuttgart just win die Bundesliga last season?
Rangers will obviously be the weakest side, but anything
can happen at Ibrox.

There should be some interesting match-ups.
guignol, you are quite right; if Lyon don't fix their defensive
problems they might have a hard time advancing.

Remember, everyone, this is football there is no logic to it
and anything can happen. You know there will be upsets.

[guignol]

rangers are actually off to a pretty good start, but beating st. mirren doesn't exactly prepare you for the CL.

[Catfish]

rangers are actually off to a pretty good start, but beating st. mirren doesn't exactly prepare you for the CL.
Well said. Rangers are improved from last season, but the SPL is not
competitive enough to keep Celtic and Rangers cutting edge.

[SportBoy333]

Stuttgart did win the Bundesliga but you can make an arguement that Schalke, Werder, and Bayren were better teams on paper.

[guignol]

Stuttgart did win the Bundesliga but you can make an arguement that Schalke, Werder, and Bayren were better teams on paper.OM and ASSE kick ass on paper too.

Nancy's a pile of pants though! :D