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
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.
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.
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
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
OL will likely get through the group. They have a lot more quality than Rangers and much more experience than Stuttgart.
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!
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.
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.
Stuttgart did win the Bundesliga but you can make an arguement that Schalke, Werder, and Bayren were better teams on paper.
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.
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.
ESPN soccer analysis and a buck fifty gets you a cup of coffee... john o'pies my eye! ireland's answer to bernard mendy!
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.
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.