Group A: Liverpool, Porto, Marseille
and Besiktas
Difficulty rating: 6
Liverpool have been handed one of the easier groups on paper, like
last year when they found themselves against the likes of Bordeaux
and PSV. They should qualify with at least a game to spare, but
rafa will be wary of resting too many players. A shock reverse in
Porto or Marseille, and they be in tricky territory.
Simply put, they will not want to finish second at any cost. The
battle for second place will be very very tight. Porto and
Marseille will start slight favourites, but if Besiktas can get
some consistency going and win their home games, it will be very
even tighter.
Group B: Chelsea, Valencia, Schalke and Rosenborg
Difficulty rating: 8.5
This is undoubtedly one of the biggest groups. Valencia were the
toughest of the groups not among the top eight seeds, and will meet
Chelsea in a repeat of last season's tight Champions League
quarter-final.
Schalke only just lost out on the Bundesliga last year, and will be
no pushovers. They will be ready to pick up the pieces from the top
two, and a couple of good home wins could see them become a big
factor. Rosenborg, with all due respect, will bring up the rear,
hoping to cause an upset or two along the way.
It will be very interesting to see who wins the group. There was
almost nothing to separate Chelsea and Valencia last season, and
both play similar football too. Interestingly, the Blues have never
quite had it easy. They faced Liverpool in the group stage two
years ago, and Barcelona last year.
Group C: Real Madrid, Werder Bremen, Lazio and Olympiakos
Difficulty rating: 7
A rather exciting group that contains some quality teams from
across Europe! Real Madrid will be the favourites on paper, but as
Werder showed last season by beating Chelsea and nearly beating
Barcelona, they will be no easy pickings.
If Lazio do not pick up injuries given their limited squad, they
can be expected to put up quite a resistance. Olympiakos are always
dangerous, and will sniff an outside chance of making it through,
though a very outside one.
Real Madrid should win this barring disaster. Lazio and Werder will
have to fight hard to beat each other, particularly with Oly.
lurking in the background.
Group D: AC Milan, Benfica, Celtic and Shakhtar Donetsk
Difficulty rating: 7.5
Milan, like Chelsea, get one of their knock-out stage opponents in
Celtic. The defending champions have an easy group on paper, and
should cruise through if they bring anything close to their A game
into the tournament.
That said, trips away to Celtic and Shakhtar will be very tricky,
given the massive weather change. It could be cold and wet, or
worse, frozen.
Benfica and Celtic found themselves in the same group last season,
and with Shakhtar unlikely to drop too many points at home, it will
be a very close battle for second place.
The presence of Lucarelli and Nery Castillo in Shakhtar's ranks
suggests the Ukrainians could be the dark horses for second place.
If you get good odds, take it!
Group E: Barcelona, Lyon, Stuttgart, Rangers
Difficulty rating: 8
On the face of it, this one looks like a positive group for
Barcelona. However, with French and German champions to contend
with, and a triky trip to Glasgow also in store, there is
absolutely no room for error. They qualified on the final day last
season after some early reverses, and will be wary of just
that.
Stuttgart and Lyon will, on paper, compete for second place, but a
home win over Barcelona, and you never know. They can be very
tricky, particularly if the Catalans continue to struggle. It will
be a pity to see one of the two go into the Uefa Cup.
Rangers, meanwhile, will be left ruing their luck. They will be
ready for the battle, make no mistake, and they can compete with
Lyon and Stuttgart on their day, but they will surely wonder what
they did to deserve such a tricky group.
Barcelona and Lyon are early favourites, but with Alain Perrin's
team without quite a few of their stars at the moment, some through
injury, a bet on Stuttgart could be a wise one.
Group F: Manchester United, Roma, Sporting Lisbon and Dynamo
Kiev.
Difficulty rating: 8.5
This group is undoubtedly the most exciting one. With Roma and
Manchester United expected to provide us with nothing but more
fireworks (hopefully only on the pitch this time around), one
cannot wait for the action to begin.
Nani and Ronaldo will be re-united with their old clubs when the
Red Devils face Sporting, but the twist in the take could come
thanks to Dynamo Kiev.
While they remain outsiders to qualify, their sensational form in
the always intimidating and chilly Kiev means that plenty of teams
will drop points, points which could ultimately decide who
qualifies and who does not.
On paper, Manchester United remain favourites ahead of Roma, but do
not expect the remaining two to give way. It is unlikely to be
decided before the final day. If Roma and United play out a couple
of fiesty draws, get a couple suspended, and then one of them drops
points in Kiev, there could well be a shock.
Group G: Inter Milan, PSV, CSKA Moscow and Fenerbahce
Difficulty rating: 6.5
The Italian champions actually have one of the easier groups, like
Liverpool. After being grouped with Bayern last time around, they
will relish an easy passage.
That is exactly what lies in store unless we see more of what we
saw against Udinese on Sunday. PSV are favourites for second place,
but with tricky trips to Russia and Turkey, there are simply no
guarantees.
CSKA showed against, Arsenal, Porto and Hamburg last year that they
mean business, and they will do just that again. As for Fenerbahce,
you never quite know what to expect.
Group H: Arsenal, Sevilla/AEK, Steaua Bucharest, Slavia
Prague
Difficulty rating: 7
Arsenal seem to have been handed a reasonable draw, but so was the
case last year when they found Porto, Hamburg and CSKA. The Gunners
are more mature, but then they have a trickier opponent in the
marauding Sevilla, who have been in sensational form.
The death of Antonio Puerta could upset them, but the chances are
that it will only fire them up further, such is their mentality.
Steaua and Slavia will have to come up with something really
special to factor into the scheme of things.
Three rounds of action should be enough to pretty confirm the two
teams that go will through, but the battle for first place in the
group will be trickier than most believe.
Base on reports , sounds like Liverpool has got the easiest
group , difficult rating 6/10 .
MU has got a 8.5/10 rating .
