In terms of bizarre (or quasi-bizarre), I'd go with PSV - Porto - Dynamo Kyiv - Astana.
Draw will begin in 15 minutes and BT Sport's coverage of the draw has just begun. Final thoughts, guys?
edited 27th Aug '15 8:32:50 AM by sanfranman91
Together, we are one.
There will be an unoriginal pairing, as usual (e.g. Barça - Man City).
edited 27th Aug '15 8:35:55 AM by Quag15
Here we go.
THE CHAMPIONS!!!
edited 27th Aug '15 8:48:22 AM by sanfranman91
Together, we are one.
GET ON WITH IT!
Right? Okay, NOW they're starting the draw, but not before telling the rules first. Ay yi yi yi yi...
edited 27th Aug '15 9:03:40 AM by sanfranman91
Together, we are one.
Pretty cute that they have mini starballs to hold the notes of the teams and groups. Now, the million dollar question: Who's going to get Astana?
![[nja]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/user_ninja_2074.png "[nja]"){kind=small}
Pots 1, 2, and 3 are done. Final Pot is coming up.
Group A (The Money Group)
- PSG
- Real Madrid
- Shakhtar Donetsk
Group B (The Ji Sung Park Group)
- PSV
- Manchester United
- CSKA Moscow
Group C (The Iberian Group)
- Benfica
- Atletico Madrid
- Galatasaray
Group D (The Up and Coming Group)
- Juventus
- Manchester City
- Sevilla
Group E (The Easy Barca Group)
- Barca
- Bayer Leverkusen
- AS Roma
Group F (The Wenger in Trouble Group)
- Bayern
- Arsenal
- Olympiacos
Group G (The Jose Group)
- Chelsea
- Porto
- Dynamo Kiev
Group H (The Coast to Coast Group)
- Zenit
- Valencia
- Lyon
edited 27th Aug '15 9:30:59 AM by sanfranman91
Together, we are one.
I'm surprised Carles Puyol didn't dress down, like at the 2011-12 draw.
◊
The moment you've all been waiting for. The end of the much ballyhooed CL draw and the answer to the Kazakh question on my previous post. It's Benfica's group.
Group A (The Zlatan Group)
- PSG
- Real Madrid
- Shakhtar Donetsk
- Malmo
Group B (The Ji Sung Park Group)
- PSV
- Manchester United
- CSKA Moscow
- Wolfsburg
Group C (The Iberian (and Kazakh) Group)
- Benfica
- Atletico Madrid
- Galatasaray
- Astana
Group D (The Group of Death)
- Juventus
- Manchester City
- Sevilla
- Borussia Monchengladbach
Group E (The Easy Barca Group)
- Barca
- Bayer Leverkusen
- AS Roma
- BATE
Group F (The Wenger in Trouble Group)
- Bayern
- Arsenal
- Olympiacos
- Dinamo Zagreb
Group G (The Jose Group)
- Chelsea
- Porto
- Dynamo Kiev
- Maccabi Tel Aviv
Group H (The Little Group)
- Zenit
- Valencia
- Lyon
- Gent
edited 27th Aug '15 9:41:29 AM by sanfranman91
Together, we are one.
Lucky Benfica.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
Group D is a pure Group of Death.
edited 27th Aug '15 9:39:23 AM by Quag15
Right, final thoughts:
Group A: Fairly interesting group. Also, Zlatan back in Sweden!
Group B: I like to think anyone can pass, but either Man United or Wolfsburg will likely go through.
Group C: Atlético Madrid are quite lucky. Benfica and Galatasaray will probably fight each other for the second place. Also, the distance between Lisbon and Astana is huge (more than 5500 km, iirc).
Group D: Group of Pure Death.
Group E: Barça is lucky. Way too lucky.
Group F: Most Arsenal-esque draw.
Group G: Mourinho vs. Casillas. Some racist Ukrainians vs. some Jews. Can't see anything go wrong with that.
Group H: Meh. Valencia should go through with ease.
Those should be the official group names, sanfranman.
I'm glad Zlatan and Malmö got each other, but Real Madrid though...
Group A sounds like a tough group to get out of as well. Zlatan should enjoy playing a match back at his hometown though, so I guess PSG can look forward to that.
On paper, Arsenal and Chelsea should easily get through to the knockout rounds. Both will probably lose matches to Bayern and Porto respectively, but they should have no problem with the other opponents.
I feel sorry for City fans though. All that momentum in the Premier League, only for them having to deal with the Europa champs, an underrated Bundesliga club, and Buffon and Friends in the Champions League. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if they find going to the Europa League an achievement given that they're going to have to play against so many great opponents in that group.
And, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Lionel Messi wins the European Player of the Year award. Can't see CR 7 or Messi's teammate Luis Suarez winning given that Messi's assists and teamwork helped Barca win the treble last season. Still not sure if that will convince Argentines that he's better than Maradona though.
edited 27th Aug '15 10:02:38 AM by sanfranman91
Together, we are one.
Officially intimidated
My predictions on who'll advance:
- Group A: PSG and Real Madrid
- Group B: Manchester United and Wolfsburg
- Group C: Benfica and Atlético
- Group D: Juventus and Sevilla
- Group E: Barcelona and Roma
- Group G: Chelsea and Porto
- Group H: Zenit and Valencia
- Europa League: Shakhtar Donetsk, PSV, Galatasaray, Manchester City, Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiacos, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Olympique Lyon
Man City, then Juve top of Group D. Sevilla back in Europa Leauge.
To win it for the third consecutive time, naturally.
My guess?
Group A (The Zlatan Group)
- Advances: PSG and Real Madrid
- Europa: Shakhtar
Group B (The Ji Sung Park Group)
- Advances: Manchester United and PSV
- Europa: Wolfsburg
Group C (The Iberian (and Kazakh) Group)
- Advances: Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray
- Europa: Benfica
Group D (The Group of Death)
- Advances: Juventus and Sevilla
- Europa: Manchester City
Group E (The Easy Barca Group)
- Advances: Barca and AS Roma
- Europa: Bayer Leverkusen
Group F (The Wenger in Trouble Group)
- Advances: Arsenal and Bayern
- Europa: Olympiacos
Group G (The Jose Group)
- Advances: Chelsea and Porto
- Europa: Dynamo Kiev
Group H (The Little Group)
- Advances: Zenit and Valencia
- Europa: Lyon
I just can't see this year's Juve team having as easy a time of replicating last season's run in Europe without Pirlo, Vidal, Tevez, and possibly even Pogba. They'll still be a great team to watch this year, and they should have a good shot at making it to the knockout rounds, but I don't expect them to have an easy time of it.
Man City, meanwhile, are shaping up to be a much improved side since last year, should definitely be looking a lot more competitive than Sevilla and Monchengladbach, and will be set to put the pressure on Juve in the race for top spot in the group.
Group D is clearly looking the most difficult for the teams drawn in it, but if any one side should be heavily favored, I'm thinking it's Man City.
edited 27th Aug '15 1:33:49 PM by SeanMurrayI
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
Drawing Bayern is no surprise at all. I figured it would be them or Barcelona. The others could've been tougher, though. (Could've been easier but could've been tougher.) I'm not too worried at the moment - Arsenal will have to get over the slow start to the season, obviously, but if they do finishing second shouldn't be too much to ask.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
The Europa League groups are the following:
Group A: Ajax, Celtic, Fenerbahçe, Moldenote
Group B: Rubin Kazan, Liverpool, Bordeaux, Sion
Group C: Borussia Dortmund, PAOK, Krasnodar, Gabala (aka Qäbäla)
Group D: Napoli, Club Brugge, Legia Warsaw, Midtjylland
Group E: Villareal, Viktoria Plzeň, Rapid Wien, Dinamo Minsk
Group F: Marseille, Braga, Slovan Liberec, Groningen
Group G: Dnipro Dnipropetrovsknote , Lazio, Saint-Étienne, Rosenborg
Group H: Sporting CP, Beşiktaş, Lokomotiv Moscow Skënderbeu Korçë
Group I: Basel, Fiorentina, Lech Poznań, Belenenses
Group J: Tottenham, Anderlecht, Mónaco, Qarabağ
Group K: Schalke 04, APOEL, Sparta Prague, Asteras Tripoli
Group L: Atl. Bilbao, AZ Alkmaar, Augsburg, Partizan
Sporting and Braga have easy/accessible groups, Belenenses is fucked.
edited 28th Aug '15 7:06:52 AM by Quag15
Sporting would look strong at first glance, but their away trips are going to be a BITCH, on top of the shorter rests before domestic fixtures.
Officially intimidated
Borussia and their defeated rivals sharing a very affectionate Twitter conversation.
◊
Familiar with William Shatner's Priceline Negotiator Commercials?
I'm assuming the answer to that is "No", if you're not living in the States.
But it's looking like MICHAEL BALLACK is now portraying a very similar character in an ad campaign for a German travel website.
Oh yeah, definitely. The thought of them returning to Russia will be bring sour memories of what happened a few days ago.
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Wow, three Michael Ballacks...
edited 28th Aug '15 1:55:28 PM by Quag15
Am I the only one who thinks the oil-fueled clubs are all going to be gathered into a group?
And here's the most bizarre group I came up with. In all seriousness, it's not nearly as strange as some Europa groups could get (could trips to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan be in the cards for Spurs?):
edited 27th Aug '15 7:57:29 AM by sanfranman91
Together, we are one.