UCL Draw Thread

[didierforever 7,349]

damn... pot 3 looks more dangerous than pot 2.

[didierforever 7,349]

Could we be in danger of dropping down to pot 2 if we have another poor CL campaign? lets be honest 11/12 aside we haven't done anything of any note in the CL since Hiddink was around.

no way. by uefa coefficient we are 4th in europe. also arsenal are still in pot 1 and i seriously cant remember the last time they made semis.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

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.

Currently, we still do not know the full allocations of teams in each pot yet as the play-off ties are still ongoing and will only conclude next week. However, there are already 22 teams that will be guaranteed to feature in the group stage though not necessarily all of their pot placing have been decided yet as it will be determined by which teams win their play-off tie and their UEFA coefficients. Anyway, you can see the ‘rough’ allocations for the teams in the pot and the ongoing play-off tie results below:

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.

I just want to avoid Dortmund and Juventus. Schalke would be a GREAT draw from pot two.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Guys, let's keep the Bayern discussion in the prematch thread.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I bet Barca and united get two of Schalke, Marseille and CSKA

When's the draw, btw? Is it this Friday?

[Jase 43,479]

How has Gotze been doing?

Just returned from injury. Started his first game for Bayern last weekend against Nurnberg.

[Jase 43,479]

I bet Barca and united get two of Schalke, Marseille and CSKA

When's the draw, btw? Is it this Friday?

I feel like whenever such questions are being asked. All my hardwork is being wasted in the first post..

The draw is tomorrow at 4.45pm UK time!

[Barbara 15,149]

I'm all for our group be all #3 in the pots reunited in a group with Schalke, Basel and Steua.

Well, I think we have good chances to have a good group although statistics and probability prove we could have a deadly group again.

But pot by pot I think in #2 we only have to avoid PSG and Juve (that's 75% working for us and I don't mind playing Atlético)

Pot #3 we have to avoid Dortmund and City - another 75% possibility of that happening (how laughable is that City is in pot 3 and so close to pot 4?)

Depending on the combination of what we get from the two first pots, having Napoli from the #4 isn't even that bad, so I don't think there's anyone we should avoid in pot #4.

The teams to really avoid are only those 4 I mentioned - and I only included City because it seems like lately we can't even score against them, let alone beat (and that even includes friendlies. ugh! annoying)

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I feel like whenever such questions are being asked. All my hardwork is being wasted in the first post..

The draw is tomorrow at 4.45pm UK time!

Your first post is too long, I just skimmed it

[dave30 728]

Ajax/Dortmund, Celtic and Athletico Madrid please.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

Except, Arsenal in European terms are hardly a poor team. Yes, they haven't won a trophy in a long time, but a top-4 finish every year in the best league the world means you are good team.

The only time they had a tough group was..... I can't remember really. They get the easiest groups out of all english clubs every single time.

[Kojo 4,676]

Kojo, pessimistic as usual. But yeah after recent seasons, I'm also inclined to think the same.

Pessimistic?

You obviously haven't been reading my posts, I'm one of the few who are optimistic about our season here.

Whilst everyone was complaining about the draw at Old Trafford I was explaining how we've got a point in the 2nd hardest game of our season, whilst everyone is crying about Cities transfers I've been the one saying they lack mental strength. I've been very far from pessimistic this season.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

steaua for me, so I can meet to boys once again in Bucharest and visit Stamford Bridge for the 2nd time.

Chelsea, CSKA/Marseille, Basel/Ajax, Steaua

[Tomo 21,681]

shit the fucking bed their is not a single weak team in any of the top 3 pots.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Please let us draw Austria Wien, please God

[CrayzayBarnet 126]

I hope we get Galatasaray, Drogba's reception would be phenomenal

[Milan 17,835]

I hope we get Galatasaray, Drogba's reception would be phenomenal

The thought is attractive, no doubt. But something inside of me wants Arsenal and Galatasaray in the same group

[CrayzayBarnet 126]

The thought is attractive, no doubt. But something inside of me wants Arsenal and Galatasaray in the same group

good shout! would love to see Drogba terrorize Arsenal's back four one more time