The Champions League groups for the 2007-08 season were announced on Thursday and threw up no ‘groups of death’ thus favouring the big teams. Two teams from every group go through to the next round and the draw more or less ensures the passage of the two big teams in most of the groups.
Unusually, two Scottish teams Celtic and Rangers have qualified for the main draw. While Celtic look likely to fight it out with Benfica for the second spot in Group D, with defending champions AC Milan the clear favourites, Rangers’ qualification looks unlikely with Barcelona, Lyon and Stuttgart the other teams in their group.
Liverpool are expected to make the cut easily with Porto, Marseille and Besiktas with them while Chelsea and Valencia are top contenders in Group B. Real Madrid are expected to face a tough task with Werder Bremen and lately improved Lazio in their group.
Manchester United have drawn Roma, Sporting Lisbon and Dynamo Kiev. The clash between Man U and Roma is expected to be the highlight of the group with the two teams being involved in a bitter quarterfinal on and off the field in last season’s edition.
Arsenal looks like having it easy as usual with Steau Bucharest, Slavia Prague and the winner of the Sevilla- AEK Athens clash the other teams in their group. Group G promises to be a tough battle between Italian champions Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven and rapidly progressing CSKA Moscow.
The draws clearly suggest that the group stages will be just preliminary encounters with very few surprises expected, and the real battle will start only in the knockout rounds.
Following are the groups for the Champions League. The teams in bold are the group favourites
Group A
Liverpool
Porto
Marseille
Besiktas
Group B
Chelsea
Valencia
Schalke 04
Rosenborg
Group C
Real Madrid
Werder Bremen
Lazio
Olympiakos
Group D
AC Milan
Benfica
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk
Group E
Barcelona
Lyon
Stuttgart
Rangers
Group F
Manchester United
Roma
Sporting Lisbon
Dynamo Kiev
Group G
Inter Milan
PSV Eindhoven
CSKA Moscow
Fenerbahce
Group H
Arsenal
Sevilla/AEK Athens
Steau Bucharest
Slavia Prague
Image Source: UEFA
VIA:BBC
