Champions League Draw

[Craig_H]

Updated odds:

[Rafael Benítez Maudes]

my money is on

[BobTheCharmer]

to make it a little interesting only the top team should qualify. my god you can pick the top two of each group so ****ing easily. group stages are ****.

[DannyMan2006]

to make it a little interesting only the top team should qualify. my god you can pick the top two of each group so ****ing easily. group stages are ****.

Less games and money for UEFA. Besides, what difference does it make?

[JohnDoe]

to make it a little interesting only the top team should qualify. my god you can pick the top two of each group so ****ing easily. group stages are ****.

Really?

I think only one group (Barca&Inter) is clear cut.

[Craig_H]

I think you can fairly easily pick the top 2 for three of the groups.

As for group winners - maybe 5 of them should be obvious.

[BobTheCharmer]

Really?

I think only one group (Barca&Inter) is clear cut.

I know the reasons its like it is, pure & simple revenue & TV.

But it'd make the games more intense and exciting if only one qualified. We're through already, so are Chelsea, so are Utd and so are Arsenal. We should all get byes to the knockout stages. If we lose to Lyon home & away, does it matter? no because we'd still come 2nd. I find the whole competition boring in the utmost until the knockout stage.

[BobTheCharmer]

GROUP A
Bayern Munich
Juventus

GROUP B
Manchester United
OK tricky for 2nd

CSKA Moscow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg

GROUP C
Milan
Real Madrid

GROUP D
Chelsea
Atletico Madrid

GROUP E
Liverpool
Lyon

GROUP F
Barcelona
Inter

GROUP G
Sevilla
Stuttgart

GROUP H
Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar

[Craig_H]

If it was as clear cut as that, bookies wouldnt exist and punters would all be rich.

[DannyMan2006]

If it was as clear cut as that, bookies wouldnt exist and punters would all be rich.

[Chris]

I'm excited now, which will turn to a sickening feeling when we get the ****ty tie with Chelsea in the quarters or semi's. Meanwhile Man Utd would have drawn Rubin Kazan who have fluked their way to the latter stages.

[JohnDoe]

GROUP A
Bayern Munich
Juventus

Bordeaux would disagree. I'd argue that they're just as good as the sides you've listed there. The margin isn't big enough to make any judgment anyway.

GROUP C
Milan
Real Madrid

Either you're underrating the French or I'm overrating them, but today's Milan isn't the Milan from a few years ago. They'll have a tough time with Marseille.

GROUP D
Chelsea
Atletico Madrid

May I remind you that it was Porto who knocked Atletico out of the CL just last year?

GROUP E
Liverpool
Lyon

Probably right but Fiorentina are still a strong side.

GROUP G
Sevilla
Stuttgart

Rangers will probably finish 3rd but you never know. They can beat both of these at home.

GROUP H
Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar

It's Arsenal and three others for the 2nd spot. Not a lot between them. Very open group.

[Shaggy]

Rafael Benitez is relishing the start of Liverpool's Champions League adventure after the Reds discovered their group stage opponents on Thursday afternoon.

The Reds will face Lyon, Fiorentina and Debreceni in Group E of the competition following today's draw in Monaco - three sides they have never previously met in European competition.

"You know in the Champions League there will always be difficult games and tough teams to play against," Benitez told Liverpoolfc.tv.

"Lyon might not have won the league last season but before that they won it many years in a row, so we know they have lots of good players who can play good football.

"Fiorentina are an historic club in a nice city. I know from experience they have fanatstic supporters because I spent some time there when Claudio Ranieri was the coach.

"And we have experience of Hungarian football because of our relationship with MTK, so if Debreceni have won their league then we know it means it's because they're a good side.

"The important thing as always is that the travelling isn't too bad, we don't have too far to go for any of the games. We're just looking forward to starting the competition now."

[Shaggy]

Liverpool have confirmed the dates for each of their games in Group E of the Champions League.

The Reds will kick off their campaign at home to Debreceni VSC on September 16 before travelling to Fiorentina.

A double header with Lyon will then follow before we visit Debreceni VSC and then conclude the group fixtures at home to Fiorentina.

The dates are as follows:

September

16 Debreceni VSC (H)
29 Fiorentina (a)

October

20 Lyon (H)

November

4 Lyon (a)
24 Debreceni VSC (a)

December

9 Fiorentina (H)

[JohnDoe]

We start with Debreceni at home. Nice.

Sep 16th.