Champions League Groups Announced, 2005 - 6

[beachesl]

Champions League draw: Group details in full

Champions League holders Liverpool and favourites Chelsea have been drawn in the same group for the first phase of this season's competition.

It is the draw neither English club would have wanted and they will also face Anderlecht and Real Betis.

Manchester United's biggest threat will come from Everton's conquerors Villarreal, while Rangers face Inter Milan and Porto in a tough group.

Arsenal have a relatively easy passage with Ajax their trickiest opponent.

Liverpool will host Chelsea in the second Group G fixture on Wednesday 28 September, while the Reds travel to Stamford Bridge to play the Blues in the final group game on Tuesday 6 December.

United's draw means that Villarreal striker Diego Forlan will face a return to his former club.

The Uruguay striker finished last season as top scorer in the Spanish league with 25 league goals, but only scored 10 goals in 62 Premiership games for United.

AC Milan, who Liverpool beat in the final in Istanbul in May, are in Group E along with PSV Eindhoven, Schalke and Fenerbahce.

Bayern Munich are the top-ranked German side, and will play Juventus, Club Brugge and Rapid Vienna in Group A.

Real Madrid, Lyon, Olympiakos and Rosenborg make up Group F, while Barcelona face Panathinaikos, Werder Bremen and Udinese in Group C.

Bookmaker William Hill has installed Chelsea as 5-1 favourites to win the competition, ahead of Barcelona (6-1) and AC Milan (7-1)

Manchester United are 10-1 with Arsenal at 11-1, while holders Liverpool are 22-1 to retain their title. Rangers are quoted as 80-1 to win the competition.

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GROUP A

Bayern Munich

Juventus

Club Brugge

Rapid Vienna

GROUP B

ARSENAL

Ajax

Sparta Prague

Thun

GROUP C

Barcelona

Panathinaikos

Werder Bremen

Udinese

GROUP D

MAN UTD

Villarreal

Lille

Benfica

GROUP E

AC Milan

PSV Eindhoven

Schalke

Fenerbahce

GROUP F

Real Madrid

Lyon

Olympiakos

Rosenborg

GROUP G

LIVERPOOL

CHELSEA

Anderlecht

Real Betis

GROUP H

Inter Milan

Porto

RANGERS

Artmedia Bratislava

(Top seeds in bold, British teams in capitals)

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Liverpool could face Chelsea after seedings announced

By Mike Collett

MONACO, Aug 25 (Reuters) - European champions Liverpool were named among the top eight seeds for this season's Champions League and could face Chelsea in the same group when the draw is made for the Group Stage on Thursday.

Liverpool, who won the European title for the fifth time in May, had to begin the defence of their crown in the first qualifying round last month because they did not have automatic entry into the final stages of the tournament.

However, UEFA, who allowed Liverpool entry into the competition by a special ruling, did not give them what is known as "country protection" which prevents teams from the same country playing against each other in the opening phase of the final round which begins with the Group Stage.

As Liverpool are among the first seeds along with English rivals Arsenal and Manchester United while Chelsea are in the second group, the two could face each other. Liverpool beat Chelsea 1-0 on aggregate in last season's Champions League semi-finals on the way to winning the title in Istanbul.

Liverpool duly won their place in the last 32 on Tuesday when they knocked out CSKA Sofia 3-2 on aggregate in the third qualifying round and are joined in the top group of seeds by AC Milan, the team they beat on penalties in last season's final, Manchester United and Arsenal and former European champions Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.

Chelsea, the English champions, are included in the second group of seeds.

The draw takes place in Monaco at 1400 GMT and will include five teams taking part in the later stages for the first time: Villarreal and Real Betis of Spain, Udinese of Italy, Thun of Switzerland and Artmedia Bratislava of Slovakia.

One team from each pot is placed in the same group making eight groups of four teams. The first two teams in each group then advance to the first knockout round of 16 teams.

The opening match days are on September 13 and 14 with the final in Paris next May.

The seedings:

Pot A

(Top seeds): Real Madrid (Spain); AC Milan (Italy); Barcelona (Spain); Liverpool (England); Manchester United (England); Inter Milan (Italy); Bayern Munich (Germany); Arsenal (England)

Pot B

Porto (Portugal); Juventus (Italy); PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands); Olympique Lyon (France); Panathinaikos (Greece); Chelsea (England); Villarreal (Spain); Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Pot C

Club Bruges (Belgium); Anderlecht (Belgium); Olympiakos (Greece); Schalke 04 (Germany); Sparta Prague (Czech Republic); Lille (France); Rangers (Scotland); Werder Bremen (Germany)

Pot D

Benfica (Portugal); Rosenborg Trondheim (Norway); Real Betis (Spain); Udinese (Italy); Fenerbahce (Turkey); Rapid Vienna (Austria); Thun (Switzerland); Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia).

[DJT]

Why are the British teams in capitals? This is the kind of thing I ranted about last week.

EDIT: If the article is from a British source, forget the above comment.

[zacRWE]

another season, another champions league draw, another weak group Arsenal has been drawn into! Im not saying that it has been easy for the Gunners whilst playing in the weaker groups, just that if they were to play other top teams they would struggle to get out of the group.

If someone can fill me in on the group two years ago, I know last year they played w/ Panathinakos, Rosenberg and PSV.

I dont want to take away from any other team, especially PSV who deserved to be in the final, but it seems that Arsenal allways gets a favorable draw. does anyone else agree?

[beachesl]

quote:Originally posted by DJT

Why are the British teams in capitals? This is the kind of thing I ranted about last week.

EDIT: If the article is from a British source, forget the above comment.

It's from the BBC site, sorry I should have said. So, it's natural. I didn't want to bother unbolding them, but won't be offended if you do chief . I'm no fan of the Little Britain mentality in such things as the Sun chain, I assure you. If Lazio had made it, I would have gone out of the way to bold them .

[Free kick]

Well, I would say that the only canadian left in this year's CL did not get a good draw. Juve, Bayern Munich, and Rapid Vienna... ouch

[canso]

This is the best part of the season, when everything is fresh and new and anything is possible!

Milan and ManUre in tough, but I'll be really looking forward to the Liverpool-Chelski decider at Anfield.

Too bad hockey's back to choke up the TV schedule.

[bettermirror]

i love manchester united's group! some class clubs to prepare them for the knockout stages! fantastique.

[Metro]

quote:Originally posted by zacRWE

another season, another champions league draw, another weak group Arsenal has been drawn into! Im not saying that it has been easy for the Gunners whilst playing in the weaker groups, just that if they were to play other top teams they would struggle to get out of the group.

If someone can fill me in on the group two years ago, I know last year they played w/ Panathinakos, Rosenberg and PSV.

I dont want to take away from any other team, especially PSV who deserved to be in the final, but it seems that Arsenal allways gets a favorable draw. does anyone else agree?

But was it a weak group? Like you said, PSV had a great run last year and Arsenal couldn't defeat PAO home or away. I think it has been very difficult trying to handicap these Champions League groups in recent years. Everyone has an opinion on which group is tough and which isn't, but in the end the only time you really know is AFTER the matches have been played.