Reigning UEFA Champions League winners Bayern Munich will face Manchester City while Barcelona and Arsenal face very tough paths through the group stage after Thursday’s UEFA Champions League draw.
Barcelona will battle in a difficult group that includes AC Milan, Celtic and Ajax, while Arsenal was drawn into a stacked group featuring Napoli, Borussia Dortmund and Marseille.
U.S. Men’s National Team midfielder Jermaine Jones and Schalke was drawn into a Group E featuring Chelsea, while Sacha Kljestan and Anderlecht were placed in a favorable draw in Group C, alongside Paris St. Germain, Benfica and Olympiakos.
Here is how all eight groups shape up for the UEFA Champions League group stage:
2013/2014 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUPS
GROUP A– Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad
GROUP B– Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen
GROUP C– Benfica, Paris St. Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht
GROUP D– Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen
GROUP E–Â Chelsea, Schalke 04, FC Basel, Steaua Bucharest
GROUP F– Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli
GROUP G– FC Porto, Atletico Madrid, FC Zenit, Austria Wien
GROUP H– Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic
Poor ajax!! Got realmadrid, borussia and man city last year. And now this!?
Haha celtic get barca again too..
Group C, the anti-group of death.
G doesn’t seem very strong either but I don’t really know teams that well.
Chelsea or juventus will win this champions. I see Manu,man city, and Real Madrid struggling, even barca. Chelsea or juven baby.
As for MLS cup, I got timbers vs impact and impact hosting.
For NASL, I got cosmos winning this season by 2 or 3 points, since other teams have more experience and cosmos will win soccer bowl.
Nfl Super Bowl, I got on 49niners vs broncos and niners taking it.
LigaMX, I say club America or Morelia.
For America’s got talent, Jk lol
celtic getting barca again? ugggh
Shame Carlos Vela does not get to play against his old team Arsenal. I bet they would be happy to have him back if they could.
as a proud PSG supporter Joyeux Noël to all…What, wait it’s not Christmas?
Ummm….Did you see our draw?
🙂
hah
très drôles….
oui .. certainement il ressemble à Noël pour vous
Mais, pauvre, pauvre arsenal
Austria Wien doesn’t list Terrence Boyd on their roster. Is he still playing for them?
boyd plays for rapid vienna (in the europa league). he was actually on the bench for their match today.
Thanks
No group of death, but certainly some intriguing matchups. Here’s hoping to some good games.
I think there are two groups of death:
– Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen
and
–
Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic
I think that then means there are no groups of death as HoboMike said. Usually there is one that is clearly tougher than all the others. This draw is up for debate. I’d argue that Group A is just as tough.
I would argue Group F is the toughest. Arsenal, Dortmund and Napoli are all extremely strong. Marseille not as much
Groups seem pretty well balanced to me…no crazy hard groups or really soft.
F and G look to be the hardest to predict and therefore most interesting to me.
Easy. Dortmund win the group and Arsenal struggle.
Celtic gets a complete joke of a group. Arsenal could be in serious trouble in that group, I think they can still advance over Napoli but it will not be easy. Hopefully Dortmund soon makes it out of pot 3 to stop these groups of death.
Typo, Chelsea got a joke of a group, not Celtic
Celtic’s reward for their dramatic win yesterday? Barca, Milan and Ajax!
These groups are pretty even, compared to most years, and I am not sure there is a true group of death. Group H is probably closest, though A and F look competitive as well.
H is pretty tough. Celtic won’t go down easily and Ajax could probably magic up a win against anyone.
F is brutal too. Marseille is prehaps the only “weak” team there, but they have 3 wins in Ligue Un.
I don’t think anyone got off super easy like Manu did last year.
Agreed. The groups other than A, F and H all have 2 clear favorites to advance, and I don’t think any group has just one obvious favorite to win except maybe Chelsea with E.
Hey Ajax only got kind of screwed this year!
Group F group of death
Arsenal always makes it to the Champions League and yet hasnt won a trophy in nearly a decade. Coincidence?
Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Man United, and Chelsea,to name just a few are all ways in the Champions League and have won many trophies over the past 10 years. I’m not sure your logic works.
Still strange to me that Arsenal was in Pot 1. They will not make it out of their group.
How is it strange? Theyve made it to last 16 like 15 years in a row, their coefficient is really high because they perform consistently.
Arsenal was 1 shot off the post from dumping out eventual champions Bayern from last years CL (in Munich).
No thank you to Group A. I wouldn’t want any part of that one.
Ready for man city to finish last in their group again.
They should finish second.
Agreed, Viktoria Plzen is not Ajax.
That’s one reason Mancini got fired. They couldn’t even beat Ajax.
The man was just incompetent in the Champs league.
“They couldn’t even beat Ajax.”???? Ajax is not a bad team. They have actually won the Champions League, albeit before big money ruined the balance of football.