Champions League Group Stage Draw

Discussion in 'Olympique Lyonnais' started by Inara, Aug 29, 2007.

  1. Inara

    Inara Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 17, 2006
    Washington, DC
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    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
     
  2. Breakwood

    Breakwood Member

    Mar 23, 2004
    Toronto, Canada
    I wonder if we'll get Real Madrid again?
     
  3. Inara

    Inara Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 17, 2006
    Washington, DC
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    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.
     
  4. SportBoy333

    SportBoy333 Member+

    Jun 27, 2003
    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.
     
  5. Nyghtewynd

    Nyghtewynd I'd Rather Walk Alone

    May 30, 2006
    St. Louis, MO
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Lyon drawn into group E with Barca so far...
     
  6. Inara

    Inara Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 17, 2006
    Washington, DC
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Stuttgart is the third club. Crap, it's looking like a group of death almost.
     
  7. Nyghtewynd

    Nyghtewynd I'd Rather Walk Alone

    May 30, 2006
    St. Louis, MO
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    ...and VfB Stuttgart...
     
  8. Inara

    Inara Moderator
    Staff Member

    Sep 17, 2006
    Washington, DC
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    And Rangers! Shit.

    SHIT.

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

    Nyghtewynd I'd Rather Walk Alone

    May 30, 2006
    St. Louis, MO
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Unless their form improves soon, Lyon may be fourth out of four in that group.
     
  10. Vfbstuttgartfan

    Aug 3, 2004
    Stuttgart
    Club:
    VfB Stuttgart
    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 :)
     
  11. SportBoy333

    SportBoy333 Member+

    Jun 27, 2003
    I doubt it. Stuttgart and Rangers arent that imposing.
     
  12. lefutur

    lefutur Member+

    Sep 2, 2004
    Brooklyn, NY US
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    hey, we own Real Madrid....why not Barca? :rolleyes:
     
  13. navid90

    navid90 New Member

    Nov 6, 2005
    Valencia, California
    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
     
  14. SuperSebGrimaldi

    May 28, 2007
    Scarsdale, NY
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    OL will likely get through the group. They have a lot more quality than Rangers and much more experience than Stuttgart.
     
  15. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    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!
     
  16. Catfish

    Catfish Member

    Oct 1, 2002
    Chicago
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    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.
     
  17. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    rangers are actually off to a pretty good start, but beating st. mirren doesn't exactly prepare you for the CL.
     
  18. Catfish

    Catfish Member

    Oct 1, 2002
    Chicago
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Well said. Rangers are improved from last season, but the SPL is not
    competitive enough to keep Celtic and Rangers cutting edge.
     
  19. SportBoy333

    SportBoy333 Member+

    Jun 27, 2003
    Stuttgart did win the Bundesliga but you can make an arguement that Schalke, Werder, and Bayren were better teams on paper.
     
  20. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    OM and ASSE kick ass on paper too.

    Nancy's a pile of pants though! :D
     
  21. SportBoy333

    SportBoy333 Member+

    Jun 27, 2003
    I was on soccernet to hear what the ESPN guys had to say about this group.

    Derrick Rae said this was the group of death.

    Tommy Smyth said there is no group of death and doesnt subscribe to the whole "group of death" arguement. He also said Barca will come "flying out this group" and thinks they will win it easily. He didnt say anything positive about Lyon and was kinda bashing them when he said "Lyon, you all know what I think about Lyon when they represent the Champions League." It wasnt positive, trust me. He said he doesnt give them "any chance."

    Adrian Healy said he sees Lyon as a "fading power" though they "have so much experience you cant rule them out."

    Only one of the 4 guys (Yannish ?) said Lyon will go through. He prasied Benzema, Juninho and Govou and talked about Cris and Coupet's injuries. He was the only one to mention any OL players by name and to give the team some sort of credit. They all picked Barca 1st. Smyth and Rae picked Stuttart 2nd and Healy didnt pick but he was high on Rangers saying they had a good chance to go through and he did call Lyon a "fading power" so it looked like he thought Rangers would finish ahead of them.

    Look like the "soccer experts" over at ESPN are not very high on OL at all. Take it for what its worth. Im not a huge ESPN fan and I wouldnt take what a lot of guys over there say very seriously.
     
  22. SuperSebGrimaldi

    May 28, 2007
    Scarsdale, NY
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    Yeah, Tommy Smyth is about as overrated as the guy he had a man-crush on, John O'Shea. He was all like, "John O'Shea's got a ton of ability, I know since I'm this old Irish guy, and he'll be the best Irish player, he'll be better than Roy Keane."

    How's that working out, Tommy?

    To give him some credit, he did say Italy would win the WC, thought I get sick when I hear him talk about MLS strikers he likes "knowing how to put the bulge in the old onion bag." He talks of Landon Donovan and Taylor Twellman as if they were world stars.
     
  23. guignol

    guignol Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 28, 2005
    mermoz-les-boss
    Club:
    Olympique Lyonnais
    Nat'l Team:
    France
    ESPN soccer analysis and a buck fifty gets you a cup of coffee...

    john o'pies my eye! ireland's answer to bernard mendy!
     
  24. SportBoy333

    SportBoy333 Member+

    Jun 27, 2003
    I'm still not sure why Smyth is so down on OL. Maybe he thinks they are constant unachievers or something. I really hope is doing the Barca-OL matches because if OL wins one it looks like he will be completely shocked.
     
  25. tdv123

    tdv123 New Member

    Jul 14, 2007
    I think Lyon will progress to the next round. I've seen Barcelona this season & they don't look anything special there just hyped up to the eye balls. People have been talking about the poor start Lyon have made this season & how Stuggart are becoming a better side. Has anyone taken a look at the Bundesliga? Stuggart arent doing to great themselves. And Rangers will be a stroll in the park.
     

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