The UEFA Cup Draw took place early on Tuesday and there were some very good match-ups drawn, and one extremely tough group that has to merit the ‘Group of Death’ label.
Here is the draw:
- GROUP A: Schalke 04, Paris St. Germain, Manchester City, Racing Santander, FC Twente
- GROUP B: Benfica, Olympiakos, Galatasaray, Hertha Berlin, FC Metalist Kharkiv
- GROUP C: Sevilla, VFB Stuttgart, Sampdoria, Partizan Belgrade, Standard Liege
- GROUP D: Tottenham Hotspur, Spartak Moscow, Udinese, Dinamo Zagreb, NEC Nijmegen
- GROUP E: AC Milan, Heerenveen, SC Braga, Portsmouth, VFL Wolfsburg
- GROUP F: Hamburg, Ajax, Slavia Prague, Aston Villa, MSK Zilina
- GROUP G: Valencia, Club Brugge, Rosenborg, FC Copenhagen, Saint-Etienne
- GROUP H: CSKA Moscow, Deportivo La Coruna, Feyenoord, AS Nancy Lorraine, Lech Poznan.
As you can see, Group C is loaded, as is Group A. Group F, with Hamburg, Aston Villa and Ajax, is also going to be a good one to follow.
What do you think of the draw? Which group do you think is the toughest? Which match-up are you most looking forward to?
Share your thoughts on the draw in the comments section below.
For Canadian fans, look at Group H. Feyenoord and Deportivo…also known as Julien De Guzman vs Jonathan De Guzman! Go Julien!
Yup – too bad young Bradley is rotting in Germany, watching him vs AC Milan would have been awesome. Sigh.
Group C should be a ton of fun, and a great showcase for Gooch.
The way Valencia is playing right now, they might walk through the group stage easily. Their big test is to hope no big names parachute in from the Champions League unexpectedly
Benfica looks like they will be advancing very easily. Also, look for Braga to put a scare into a couple of teams.
A lot more appealing ‘looking’ group stage than in previos years.
Valencia has a cakewalk in Group G! Rosenberg? Copenhagen? All they really need to do is remember to bring their hats and gloves to the away games!
oh yippee! the NIT
Marca’s reaction:
Fácil para el Valencia, duro para Sevilla y Depor y letal para el Racing
Easy for Valencia, tough for Sevilla and Depor, and you have no chance Racing 😉
Good thing Michael Bradley moved on from Herenveen – he can sit the bench at Gladbach instead of playing at the San Siro!
He’s cup tied – so unfortunately he won’t be able to. Should be interesting though to see Modric back against his old boys Dinamo.
should be interesting to see Pavluchenko face his most recent teammates at Spartak Moscow
While Villa has a tough draw i think it will only help them in the long run..
Gooch will get to showcase his talent against three teams from three of the top leages. Tough draw for them though but hopefully it will get Gooch transferred.
I thought Group B was tough at the top…
ohhh nice
Gooch vs Pardo & Osorio