By IVES GALARCEP
Fans of Manchester United and Chelsea are smiling wide, while Manchester City fans are once again wondering why the UEFA Champions League draw is so cruel to them.
Manchester City was drawn into what is being widely regarded as the Group of Death, joining Juventus, Sevilla and Fabian Johnson’s Borussia Moenchengladbach in Group D after Thursday’s Champions League draw.
The draw produced several high-profile match-ups, including Paris St. Germain facing Real Madrid and Bayern Munich squaring off against Arsenal.
In terms of draws, Manchester City and Chelsea wound up in two of the easier draws possible, avoiding powerhouses.
There are plenty of storylines in the group draw as well, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic facing off against his first pro club, Malmo, and Jose Mourinho leading Chelsea against FC Porto, the team with which he won his first Champions League title as manager.
Here is a look at the full draw:
GROUP A- Paris St. Germain, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmo
GROUP B- PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Wolfsburg
GROUP C- Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray, Astana
GROUP D- Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla, Borussia Moenchengladbach
GROUP E- Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma, BATE Borisov
GROUP F- Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Olympiakos, GNK Dinamo
GROUP G- Chelsea, FC Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Maccabi Tel Aviv
GROUP H- FC Zenit, Valencia, Lyon, KAA Gent
What do you think of the draw? What group do you consider the toughest? What match are you most looking forward to?
Share your thoughts below.
How many CONCACAF players in CL?
Great question.
I can think of 4:
F. Johnson – Gladbach
Guardado – PSV
Chicharito – United
Herrera – Porto
Anyone else?
Well, you’ve got Keylor Navas at Real Madrid.
I think Olympiakos has some Mexico or Costa Rica players
Where are Bryan Ruiz and Joel Campbell now?
Forgot about Navas bc he didn’t play in the GC.
Ruiz is at Sporting and Campbell is with Arsenal. So, yes, add Campbell to the list.
Ruiz was at PSV and Campbell at Olympiakos..
I know that for Mexico it can have up to seven participants. Herrera, Gudino, Guardado, Hector Moreno, Alan Pulido, Raul Jimenez and Chicharito.
that’s impressive.
best of luck to Fabian Johnson & BMG in that group!
wish MB was still at Roma or moved to Bayer.. good chance for either to get out the group or at least play some games vs. Barcelona.
I’m sure earning many multiples what he earned at Roma will make up for missing a couple of games against Barca.
Yes …yes you have said UMPTEEN times on this board. Making 2-3’x times much money (that is the actual multiple – after taxes) makes one happy and solves everything.
F Johnson should get a lot if exposure if he plays well.
Once again, Man Utd get off easy again!
Group A is tough and c but I don’t think D is tough as some people think. mancity, juventus and sevilla, if now interms of players and coach city are far better so city get their size no excuse about that. Manchester United are laughing because they are in easy group, let see what happen next, Barcelona cheap group indeed. But group G is interesting because tough matches for Chelsea but at all cost first in the group. Verdict to this season champions league, Chelsea are the favorite no doubt about that, adding pogba and stones, I think they can conquer Europe,
GROUP A- Paris St. Germain, Real Madrid,
GROUP B- PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United/ Wolfsburg
GROUP C- Atletico Madrid, Benfica/Galatasaray
GROUP D- Juventus, Manchester City/Sevilla
GROUP E- Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen/ Roma
GROUP F- Bayern Munich, Arsenal/Olympiakos
GROUP G- Chelsea, FC Porto
GROUP H- FC Zenit, Valencia,
Group D is probably the toughest. Bayern/Arsenal and PSG/RM will be good matchups but in both cases both teams should be able to get through. Also, TSO returning to Porto.