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UEFA Champions League draw: AC Milan, Real Madrid drawn together again

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By AVI CREDITOR

The UEFA Champions League draw was held in Monaco, and the Road to Wembley has some intriguing group-stage matchups along the way.

Oguchi Onyewu and AC Milan were the hard-luck losers of the draw, being drawn into the same group as Real Madrid for the second straight year and also having to deal with Ajax Amsterdam.

As for the other Americans, Maurice Edu and Rangers were drawn into the same group as Manchester United, Valencia and Bursaspor, and Jermaine Jones and Schalke were drawn into the same group as Lyon, Benfica and Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Other highlights include Barcelona having a pretty ideal road to the knockout stage, although pesky Rubin Kazan is also in its group again; Chelsea and Marseille being drawn into the same group, giving Didier Drogba a chance to go up against his former side; and defending champion Inter Milan drawing a tough trio of Werder Bremen, Tottenham and FC Twente.

UEFA also announced that it will be incorporating goal-line officials for the Champions League this year, building off the Europa League experiment from last year.

Here are the eight groups for the 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League:

GROUP A

  • Inter Milan
  • Werder Bremen
  • Tottenham
  • FC Twente

GROUP B

  • Lyon
  • Benfica
  • Schalke 04
  • Hapoel Tel-Aviv

GROUP C

  • Manchester United
  • Valencia
  • Rangers
  • Bursaspor

GROUP D

  • FC Barcelona
  • Panathinaikos
  • FC Copenhagen
  • Rubin Kazan

GROUP E

  • Bayern Munich
  • AS Roma
  • FC Basel
  • CFJ 1907 Cluj

GROUP F

  • Chelsea
  • Marseille
  • Spartak Moscow
  • MSK Zilina

GROUP G

  • AC Milan
  • Real Madrid
  • Ajax
  • AJ Auxerre

GROUP H

  • Arsenal
  • Shakhtar Donetsk
  • SC Braga
  • Partizan Belgrade

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Which group seems the toughest to you? Which favorite do you think has the toughest road ahead? Which favorite has the easiest road? Which American do you see advancing the furthest? Happy that there will be goal-line officials in the Champions League?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. see group of death originally meant what youre saying – four very good teams.But through repeated usage the phrase lost its weight,its gravity and so we just apply it to denote the toughest group in a competition.So yes in a sense we do always have a group of death

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  2. To be fair milan now with robinho,pato and ibra up front have the strongest attack in europe.Plus pirlo and ronaldinho make a lethal play making pair.So i think milan will come out on top in milan vs madrid.I also think that milan will reach the semis this year,though i don’t think they’ll make it to the final.

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  3. A group of death is a group where anyone could advance and it not be a shock regardless of what they do in the knockout rounds

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  4. They’re a better team than Unirea Urziceni who was a draw away from making the group stages last year. At the very least they should give Basel a run for 3rd and a Europa League berth.

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  5. Yes I like Rubin’s chances. They probably got the easiest Pot 2 and Pot 3 opponents in Panathinaikos and Copenhagen. My only concern is that Barcelona knows what’s coming and will be looking for redemption.

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  6. Does there HAVE TO be a group of death? Because I don’t see one here. To me “group of death” means 4 teams who would surprise no one by making a very deep run in the tournament.

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  7. No one is gong to get a lot of credit when they don’t advance past the group stage, but Rubin were in 2nd place gong into the last match day last year – in a group that included Inter and Barecelona (not to mention Kiev). They showed very well for themsleves and were one of the best 16 in the tournament, even if they didn’t qualify for the final 16. (If nothing else, they clearly were better than CSKA Moscow who DID advance to the final 16, but finished 5 places behind Rubin in the league last fall) I’m not sure Rubin are playing as well right now as they were last year (they are currently 3rd in Russia) but I look for them to advance to the final 16 this time.

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  8. Any of those four teams can advance. You have that much faith in Rafa-led Inter? Comparing Bremen and Tottenham, it’d be tough to give Bremen the edge. And maybe the top three beat each other up and Twente sneaks through.

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  9. Early thoughts on the draw:

    – Group G: Group of Death

    – Nice of UEFA to give Man Utd an easy group while Rooney nurses his injured tw*t.

    – Arsenal and Barcelona are competing for who will travel more during the group stages.

    – Schalke (rumored to be Hitler’s favorite team) is visiting Hapoel Tel Aviv. Awkward Award.

    – Tottenham should remember that big clubs progress through the group stages into the KO rounds.

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  10. Bayern should finish top, but if not def 2nd. Easier group than last year and they are a better team at this point too. They can match up with anyone and bring it on!

    Auf gehts Bayern

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  11. my money is on CFJ 1907 Cluj to advance to the knockout stage. Probably no one on here knows what league they are in without having to look it up, but I am on the bandwagon. and yeah, i haven’t looked it up yet. and yeas I’m being sarcastic, but still on the wagon.

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  12. On the extra referees for goal line calls, do these refs actually stand behind the goal? Or are they on the goal line on the side of the goal opposite the AR?

    Because any tennis fan could tell you that a ref behind the goal is still in poor position to determine if a ball has crossed the line…

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  13. I predicted on the prior thread that Ajax would make one group the Group of Death. To be sure, Milan isn’t the Milan of 5 years ago. And Ajax isn’t the Ajax of 10-15 years ago. But still, they are both high quality sides.

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  14. Erik, it’s not about pedigree at this point. If you don’t think the Twattenham can challenge to win that group you are indeed insane.

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  15. I’m liking Group E. FC BAYERN!

    Group A will be tough for the defending champions. No easy matches there.

    Group B has got to be the most wide open, IMO.

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  16. I think Group A looks quite competitive. I expect Inter to go through but 2nd could be wide open between Bremen, Spurs, and Twente.

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  17. It’s good to see a few new teams in the groups this year!

    However, they need to come up with a way to force more competition out of these groups. The only two groups worth a darn are group G and Group B. Otherwise, you can predict with almost certainty who will make it out of the groups.

    So good to have AJAX back after all these years – too bad they have the group they do.

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