How will the British sides get on? What about everyone else?
Group A – Leverkusen, Man Utd, Real Sociedad, Shakhtar Donetsk
A reasonably tough Champions League debut for David Moyes. United’s top-seed status meant they were never going to draw the big boys, but any tie against top-four German or Spanish opposition is a test. Shakhtar are no mugs either, and their Brazilian contingent have the potential to cause anyone problems. United will expect and be expected to go through of course, but they’re unlikely to walk this group.
Group B – Copenhagen, Galatasaray, Juventus, Real Madrid
Real and Juve are understandably favourites for this one, but a Galatasaray side featuring the likes of Didier Drogba, Burak Yilmaz and Wesley Sneijder will fancy their chances of sneaking in ahead of the Italian side at least. Emmanuel Eboue’s there as well but don’t hold that against them. Not looking good for Copenhagen though is it? They took a Celtic-esque shafting in the draw. Maybe next year…
Group C – Anderlecht, Benfica, Olympiakos, PSG
One of the weaker groups in the competition, and PSG’s expensively assembled side shouldn’t have any trouble with coming out on top. The race for second looks pretty open though and any one of the other three teams will fancy their chances of progressing to the knockout stages.
Group D – Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Man City, Plzen
It might have the European champions in it, but Man City will be far happier with this group than the one they found themselves in last year. It’s probably safe to say Munich will come out top but CSKA are beatable and Manuel Pellegrini wants shooting if he can’t get 6 points out of Plzen. The Chilean has an impressive record in this competition though, and after previously taking the unfancied Villarreal and Malaga to the latter stages, he shouldn’t have any trouble getting City to the knockout stages for the first time. In theory.
Group E – FC Basel, Chelsea, Schalke, Steaua Bucharest
The Mourinho Messiah/Siege/Destiny narratives will have to wait until the knockouts, Chelsea should get out of this group with minimal fuss. You’d even fancy Fernando Torres to notch a couple against the likes of Basel and Steaua. Schalke could prove to be a bit more troublesome, but I can’t see them finishing any higher than second.
Group F – Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Marseille, Napoli
You know how Arsenal always win the fourth place trophy and have made the Champions League group stages sixteen years in a row? Well, you can sometimes hear their fans talking about how they’ve made the knockout stages thirteen years in a row too. United, Chelsea and Liverpool might have actually gone and won the thing in that period, but they haven’t managed that!
Can they make it fourteen years on the bounce? If those injuries keep piling up it could well get a bit ‘Thursday night, Channel 5’ at the Emirates after Christmas. Marseille would probably be happy with second place here but the other three sides will all hold realistic hopes of winning it. Group of death.
Group G – Atletico Madrid, Porto, Austria Vienna, Zenit St Petersburg
No giants in this one but Atletico, Porto and Zenit will fancy their chances of beating each other, and they’ll all fancy their chances of beating Vienna. The Austrian side apart, this could be a tight and fascinating group.
Group H – AC Milan, Ajax, Barcelona, Celtic
Not gone brilliantly for Celtic, has it? They might not win any matches but on the bright side, their fans have got some cracking European mini-breaks to look forward to. What’s more appealing anyway, celebrating a win in Basel or drowning your sorrows in Amsterdam or Barcelona?
Barca will obviously win it, though despite losing the likes of Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld over the summer, Ajax will hold at least a faint hope of sneaking past Milan.