capriccioso

Because I like Shakthar's aggressive policy of starting 11 Brazilians.

AC Milan have a very easy group, though they'll lose in Leningrad to Zenit. As do Arsenal. Group A is an unknown quantity, anyone could win that group. Except Zagreb. Man United have two very difficult away trips to Cluj and Galatasaray. We may well see them struggle to top the group. Ajax and Dortmund should pose no problem for City and Real. Group G is the group of death, because you have Barcelona a few dozen classes above the rest and then three teams that are all capable of beating each other, even Spartak 'We're so irrelevant that everyone calls us CSKA' Moscow. Also it'll be a bit lol to see how the princesses of La Masia handle playing in the cauldron that is Celtic Park, and their favourite away excursion to Russia. Barca should still comfortably top the group but they have a non-existent defence, Celtic have one of the strongest home records in Europe, if Benfica still have that massive Cardozo bloke they could shock Barcelona, and even 'CSKA' might take a point off Barcelona at home.

Right, we should win this group with 15 points. 5 wins, 1 loss in Donetsk. I'm predicting: Chelsea (15) Shakthar Donetsk (12) Juventus (3) Jesper Gronkjaer (3)

Arsenal have a sitter of a group. Only worry for them is if the Greek civilians riot while they're playing Olympiakos.

That is another potentially difficult away trip we've avoided. Can we have Dinamo?

Precisely, they are a shadow of what they were pre-Calciopoli; Serie A or no Serie A.

Canavarro doesn't speak English?

Galatasaray will beat them in Istanbul, comfortably. Braga are a quality team and will cause them trouble. They have a group very nearly as difficult as ours.

Fucking hell, are Spartak that shit these days that everyone's been thinking they're CSKA? :lol:

Excellent, excellent, we missed out on CSKA!

Relax, Fener and Gala are virtually invincible in Istanbul. Man United have a marginally tougher group than us so far.

Oh, fuck, CSKA haven't been drawn yet?

Great for us to avoid Galatasaray.

I always define Balkan as southern European, places like Macedonia, Croatia, etc. The Baltics are those nations that are near/on the Baltic coast and typically have very, very, cold winters.

That doesn't change the fact that the best team since the Galacticos version 1 were significantly worse on the road. And it's disproportionate when you consider the amount of time they've ran riot on other, shorter, less hostile weather/fan passion wise away trips.

Ouch. Oporto to Kiev. That'll be tough.

No one takes Baltic sides on the road, especially quality outfits like Shakthar. We'll do well to get a point. Even Barcelona struggle in Ukraine and Russia.

Shakthar fucking Donetsk. There's 3 away points dropped already. Especially if we're travelling away on Matchday 6, with all that Baltic snow. I rue the day FC Luch Vladivostok, on the Russian-Korean border, qualify for the Champions League. What an away trip that'll be.

If this was FM I'd have just clicked on "Draw All Teams" already. Why make a ceremony of such a simple process?

Denis Law is too old for this.

My word, McManaman's suit is horrific. Typical Scouser, second word he says on stage is "history".

Fuck off, no Drogba or Cech considered for Best Player in Europe? Farce.

Here's a stream. Eurosport are broadcasting it. http://sports-livez.com/channel/ch-6.php

Italian commentary

Before you know it, he'll be on the substitutes bench...