Recently, the UEFA Champions League Draw was held. 32 teams were divided into 8 groups. Each group has 4 teams and only two will advance to the first knockout stage. The team in third place in each group will be qualified to enter UEFA Europa League round of 32. the teams will play home and away against each other.
UEFA Champions League Draw:
- Manchester United, the defending Premier League champions should be happy with their draw. They were able to avoid the strongest teams and they will be able to easily take the lead in the group and advance to the next round. The other clubs will have to fight for the second knockout berth.
- Real Madrid and Juventus were drawn into the same group, This made Group B one of the hardest groups this year, and it didn’t get any easier when Turkish giants Galatasaray were added to the group. Madridista are very excited and ambitious of winning the 10th title after signing in really good players, such as Gareth Bale and Isco. On the other hand, Copenhagen considered the weakest team in the group and it will struggle to make an impact.
- Group C is an interesting group, as all four clubs could make a strong case to proceed to the next step. Benfica benefited for being with a mild competitive teams that have no big history of achievements in UEFA Champions League. Big-spending Paris Saint-Germain are also likely very pleased with their draw result.
- Bayern Munich and Manchester City have to be happy about the draw. Although being in the same group wasn’t the best case scenario for both teams, but they didn’t have another top club in the group in order to turn it into a true Group of Death. The other two teams are not so lucky for being with these strong teams.
- Chelsea won the Champions League title two seasons ago. Being in this group would almost guarantee them a place of the knockout stage . Even though Schalke and Basel are both solid clubs, the Blues are undoubtedly the best team in Group E.
- This is a tricky group and it is hard to predict which team is going to the next round. Arsenal has signed in one of the best midfielders in the world Mesut Ozil and that gave them confidence. Also, Napoli singed in several good players in different positions this year. On the other hand, Marseille has a lot of experience and proved that they are not an easy Competitor. Borussia Dortmund achieved the final of UEFA champions League, but they lost the title for Bayern Munich last season.
- Group G should be wide open. Porto, Atletico Madrid and Zenit should all be confident about their chances to move on, but one of them will be left behind. Austria Wien face an uphill battle, but could still have an impact and surprises the other competitors.
- While Barcelona and AC Milan will enter the final group expecting to advance, they can’t afford to overlook Ajax and Celtic. Ajax are the defending Dutch champions, and Celtic reached the UCL knockout stages last season. This is a solid overall group and each team has to work hard in order to go to the next round.
Madridista Soccer 