Champions League Draw Armed & Ready

The final 32 clubs who will partake in this year’s Champions League campaign have qualified and are all set for tomorrow’s draw – set somewhere in Europe which is easy for Michele Platini to travel to (oh it’s in Monaco, how nice). And though the qualifying stages are a bit Champions League Lite, they still provided some serious drama (thank you, Dirk Kuyt) and even a little bit of history (welcome, Belarus). All the big boys are still here, though (once again, thank you Dirk), so once we cross into the new year, it’ll likely be more of the same with a few tweaks thrown in. Or maybe this is Cinderella’s year, as it was in 03-04. Who knows.

The final 3rd qualifying rundown of scores and aggregates:

Now, what’s making waves going in is the unexpectedness (or suckiness, whoever you fancy slicing it) of a few participants. Namely BATE, who become the first ever Belarussian team to make the group stages, and Anorthosis of Cyprus, who shocked Olympiacos. Both of whom can soundly fit under the category Happy To Be Here, Thanks For The Parting Gifts. Then you’ve got other surprises like AaB of Denmark, Romanian league champs CFR Cluj, FC Basel and even Panathinaikos. Safe to say, the big boys will be licking their chops when a few of those clubs come up to be drawn.

And here’s how the draw comes out based on UEFA’s coefficient ranking, the formula for which is more complicated and extensive than anything ever.

GROUP I

Manchester United
Chelsea
Liverpool
Barcelona
Arsenal
Lyon
Internazionale
Real Madrid

GROUP II

Bayern
PSV Eindhoven
Villarreal
Roma
Porto
Werder Bremen
Sporting CP
Juventus

GROUP III

Marseille
Zenit St. Petersburg
Steaua Bucureşti
Panathinaikos
Bordeaux
Celtic
Basel
Fenerbahçe

GROUP IV

Shakhtar Donetsk
Fiorentina
Atlético Madrid
Dynamo Kyiv
CFR Cluj
Aalborg BK
Anorthosis Famagusta
BATE

Fiorentina and Atletico in that fourth group really throws a wrench into things because both clubs should be more than competitive – especially Atletico, if their 4-0 thrashing of Schalke today is any indicator of things to come this season. Though I guess that’s why it’s called the Champions League, it’s not supposed to be easy.

The draw tomorrow is at 1800 CET (1200 Eastern) and somebody around these offside parts will surely be liveblogging it.

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Category: World Football