Champions League Thread

[Milan 17,957]

All the trophies (UCL, EL and Super Cup) are currently in Prague and open to public. Damn I am currently unavailable to travel there. Anyway...

[Fernando 6,585]

So what do people think.

Do we have a chance to win or not get thump by Bayern?

I feel that if it was the same Bayern from last year with that style, we would get beaten by 3 goals or more. They where too damn good!

But with pep, it seems like a wild card.

I think we might have a chance and I hope we can do it. It will be just another bad thing chipping at Guardiola :-)

[yuvala 2,167]

So what do people think.

Do we have a chance to win or not get thump by Bayern?

I feel that if it was the same Bayern from last year with that style, we would get beaten by 3 goals or more. They where too damn good!

But with pep, it seems like a wild card.

I think we might have a chance and I hope we can do it. It will be just another bad thing chipping at Guardiola :-)

Agree.

[Muzchap 8,966]

So what do people think.

Do we have a chance to win or not get thump by Bayern?

I feel that if it was the same Bayern from last year with that style, we would get beaten by 3 goals or more. They where too damn good!

But with pep, it seems like a wild card.

I think we might have a chance and I hope we can do it. It will be just another bad thing chipping at Guardiola :-)

Well we have history with Pep and he won't be relishing the idea of facing Chelsea...

I think the critiscising of Pep is a bit much - playing Lahm out of position for a friendly actually makes sense - if you look at this way

Pep: I need you to do xyz

Lahm: I don't understand

Pep then plays him in midfield to show Lahm what the midfielder has to deal with and it will help Lahm understand when playing in his normal position what's needed. He now has an appreciation of what the gu in front oh him is Trying to do...

I think it will be 1:1 and penalties

[chelseathebest 150]

I feel that if it was the same Bayern from last year with that style, we would get beaten by 3 goals or more. They where too damn good!

But with pep, it seems like a wild card.

Same thoughts here.

There's no way we could cope with Jupp's team, not even in a dream. But Pep is a shit coach and I believe now we have a fair chance to win this.

[Azpinator 2,325]

There's no way we could cope with Jupp's team, not even in a dream.

Why do people keep saying that? Did we really think we could cope with Pep's team in 2012? At Camp Nou at least? No.

[Mustafa 885]

I just hope we win this match ... How sad would that be if we lose this trophy twice in a row in consecutive years

[Milan 17,957]

A new grass is being laid for the purposes of the Chelsea v Bayern game.

[The_Flash 1,144]

It would be very nice to win, but if we don't much like against Madrid, it is not because we are not solid. They are a difficult team and yes it would be wonderful to win. However even if we don't i think we are going to have a great season.

[Mceachran 109]

It's a positive situation no matter what. No pressure for us to win. A big plus if we do. If not, we get another chance to gauge where we are at in our building process.

[robdog 2,084]

lovely moment here in the Robinson household. I have in-laws visiting from Munich & of course they are FCB fans. Well they have entered the Home of the Biggest CFC fan on this side of the Sierra Nevadas I will give them hell up to match time & hopefully they won't see my tears of gloom but tears of Joy & Glory

[zolayes 14,489]

I just hope we win this match ... How sad would that be if we lose this trophy twice in a row in consecutive years

VERY few teams have been in consecutive finals ... I think we might be the first.

[Kinol 337]

Munich have had a very slow start off the season. They are not really performing as good as i think everyone expected them too. Thats good for us ofc.

[petr.breu 1,618]

Tickets are home :cfc:

[Jase 43,479]

Munich have had a very slow start off the season. They are not really performing as good as i think everyone expected them too. Thats good for us ofc.

That's because they are still adapting to Guardiola's tactics, style of play and what he demands of them. Nothing new with this circumstances. At least they are still winning games even though they are not at their best yet.

[Jase 43,479]

It’s nearly that time of the season once again where the Champions League season will kick off in a month’s time. And that means the group stage draw is not far off as it will take place next Thursday on 29th August in Monaco at 4.45pm UK time. As you may also have noticed there, the draw is done one day before we face Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup.

(You might be wondering why another thread is created for this when a Chelsea-related European thread already exists but since that one is being used to discuss about the Super Cup game, created a separate one first and will later merge this with that thread once it’s over.)

Just like every other Champions League season’s group stage draw, 32 teams will participate in the competition and they will be allocated to 4 pots based on their latest UEFA Coefficients which can be seen here. A team will then be drawn out from each pot to form a group of 4 teams and in total having eight different groups with four various teams in them. And remember, teams from the same country cannot be drawn together in the group stage as well as in the round of Last 16 until the quarter finals come about.

We have drawn into Group E alongside the following opponents:

Group E

1. Chelsea

2. Schalke

3. Basel

4. Steaua Bucharest

The group fixtures:

18th Sept (Wed) - Chelsea v Basel | Schalke v Steaua Bucharest

1st Oct (Tue) - Steaua Bucharest v Chelsea | Basel v Schalke

22nd Oct (Tue) - Schalke v Chelsea | Steaua Bucharest v Basel

6 Nov (Wed) - Chelsea v Schalke | Basel v Steaua Bucharest

26 Nov (Tue) - Basel v Chelsea | Steaua Bucharest v Schalke

11 Dec (Wed) - Chelsea v Steaua Bucharest | Schalke v Basel

You can see the full drawn groups in the spoiler tag below.

Group A

1. Manchester United

2. Shakhtar Donetsk

3. Bayer Leverkusen

4. Real Sociedad

Group B

1. Real Madrid

2. Juventus

3. Galatasaray

4. FC Copenhagen

Group C

1. Benfica

2. Paris St. Germain

3. Olympiacos

4. Anderlecht

Group D

1. Bayern Munich

2. CSKA Moscow

3. Manchester City

4. Viktoria Plzen

Group E

1. Chelsea

2. Schalke

3. Basel

4. Steaua Bucharest

Group F

1. Arsenal

2. Marseille

3. Borussia Dortmund

4. Napoli

Group G

1. Porto

2. Atletico Madrid

3. Zenit St. Petersburg

4. Austria Wien

Group H

1. Barcelona

2. AC Milan

3. Ajax

4. Celtic

Below are the full pot allocations for the 32 qualified teams:

Pot 1

1. Barcelona

2. Bayern Munich

3. Chelsea

4. Real Madrid

5. Manchester United

6. Arsenal

7. FC Porto

8. Benfica

Pot 2

1. Atletico Madrid

2. Shakhtar Donetsk

3. Schalke

4. Marseille

5. CSKA Moscow

6. Paris St. Germain

7. AC Milan

8. Juventus

Pot 3

1. Ajax

2. Borussia Dortmund

3. Basel

4. Olympiacos

5. Galatasaray

6. Manchester City

7. Zenit St. Petersburg

8. Bayer Leverkusen

Pot 4

1. Napoli

2. Anderlecht

3. Steaua Bucharest

4. Austria Wien

5. FC Copenhagen

6. Celtic

7. Viktoria Plzen

8. Real Sociedad

Play-Off Tie Results:

First Leg (20th and 21st August)

Shakhter Karagandy 2-0 Celtic

Lyon 0-2 Real Sociedad

Pacos Ferreira 1-4 Zenit St. Petersburg

PSV Eindhoven 1-1 AC Milan

Viktoria Plzen 3-1 NK Maribor

Dinamo Zagreb 0-2 Austria Wien

Fenerbahce 0-3 Arsenal

Ludogorets Razgrad 2-4 Basel

Schalke 1-1 PAOK Thessaloniki

Steaua Bucharest 1-1 Legia Warsaw

Second Leg (27th and 28th August)

Celtic 3-0 Shakhter Karagandy (Celtic win 3-2 on agg)

Real Sociedad 2-0 Lyon (Real Sociedad win 4-0 on agg)

Zenit St. Peterburg 4-2 Pacos Ferreira (Zenit win 8-3 on agg)

AC Milan 3-0 PSV Eindhoven (AC Milan win 4-1 on agg)

NK Maribor 0-1 Viktoria Plzen (Viktoria Plzen win 4-1 on agg)

Austria Wien 2-3 Dinamo Zagreb (Ausria Wien win 4-3 on agg)

Arsenal 2-0 Fenerbahce (Arsenal win 5-0 on agg)

Basel 2-0 Ludogorets Razgrad (Basel win 6-2 on agg)

PAOK Thessaloniki 2-3 Schalke (Schalke win 4-3 on agg)

Legia Warsaw 2-2 Steaua Bucharest (Steaua Bucharest win on away goals rule after 3-3 on agg)

So, what are your thoughts on it? Who would you want us to face? Which team needs to be avoided? Discuss all of it here.

P.S. I will be updating this as it goes along.

Edited August 29, 2013 by BluesMaster

[Barbara 15,149]

This should be like tennis. There are 8 seeds (teams with the best coefficients) and all the other 24 are randomly drawn.

But as it isn't like that, at least RM, Barça, and Bayern are in the same pot as we are so we won't have any of them (in addition to both Manchester teams). Having Borussia though would be tough as well as Juve (in a lesser degree). The rest is the rest imo and while there are quality teams, we should be able to face them. PSG and Monaco included.

[yuvala 2,167]

Imagine: Chelsea, PSG, Dortmund and Napoli in same group

Haha was just thinking the same.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Can someone explain me why Juventus isnt on Pot 1 ?

[Jase 43,479]

Can someone explain me why Juventus isnt on Pot 1 ?

That's because their UEFA coefficient is average. It is based on their results in Europe which until last season, they didn't participate for a couple of seasons and even when they did before that, they didn't exactly did well in European competitions.