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Liverpool + Arsenal avoid familiarity
Written by Sawyer | 24th August 2006 | 0 Comment(s)
Familiarity amongst Europe's elite is becoming more evident as the years roll on following the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage draw, conducted at Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on Thursday.
The major clubs obviously like the situation which sees the majority of them qualifying each year, guaranteeing financial security upon which to build, but for fans it is sometimes nice to travel to pastures new and experience different stadia.
That being said, Chelsea's traveling brigade will probably not moan too much as Barcelona is a lovely city, but those who have managed to fend off their wives and girlfriends willingness to join them on excursion for the past two season's will probably find that a hard exercise for a third occasion.
Chelsea and Barcelona first became acquainted in the 2004/05 competition when the Blues stunned Barca 5-4 on aggregate in the Round of 16, but Frank Rijkaard's team exacted their revenge last season at the same hurdle with a 3-2 aggregate win.
Barcelona and Werder Bremen were also paired together in Group C last season, making Group A a very familiar one, and turning into a baptism by fire for Levski Sofia.
Nine-time winners Real Madrid are also paired with a familiar foe in Group E, as French side Lyon will again travel to the Bernabeu. Last season in the group stage, Lyon earned a win and a draw against the Spanish side en route to the quarter-finals.
Madrid will also have to travel to the east of Europe on two occasions to take on both Steaua and Dynamo Kiev. The Romanian side, winners of the competition in 1986, are back in the group stage after a 10-year hiatus and Dynamo Kiev were paired with Madrid in the group stage as recently as 2004/05.
The draw also produced a further instalment of the Battle of Britain as Manchester United will face Scottish champions Celtic in Group F. The Red Devils are also paired with Benfica, with whom they played in last season's group stage and have a score to settle, and with first-timers FC Copenhagen fresh off their shock elimination of Ajax.
United will be expected to put the Scots in their place, but they should be two boisterous encounters nevertheless. Ajax would not have been in pot four had they defeated FC Copenhagen, but following the club's recent experience at the Amsterdam tournament Alex Ferguson will be quite pleased to welcome the Danish outfit.
Not too many Danish sides have made it to the group stages and United's fans can look forward to a trip to another city that should be a pleasurable visit.
Group C will see Erik Gerets' return to PSV Eindhoven, but as manager of Turkish side Galatasaray and it is the second straight year PSV are grouped with a Turkish side, having played against Fenerbahce last season.
Liverpool will be favourites to emerge victorious in the section, but will find each opponent dangerous. Like Arsenal in Group G their fans will at least have the interest of facing opposition that neither club has become too familiar with during their European ventures.
Some Liverpool fans will head for Amsterdam as a base when they visit PSV, but they will probably be better off sampling the delights of Eindhoven which is also a nice place in its own right.
The Gunners would have been quite pleased that Bayern Munich had already been drawn into the first section for TV purposes which left them with Hamburg instead of Galatasaray, who were the last two teams to be drawn. The thought of a trip to Turkey will not have filled too many Gooner hearts with joy as many will remember the events surrounding the Uefa Cup Final of 2000.
Having visited Ajax on many occasions recently, either in the Champions League or Amsterdam Tournament it probably was written that Arsenal should be drawn with Germany's equivalent, Hamburg. At least it's a different town lads!!
As with Liverpool, The Gunners' group is no cakewalk, but they will be expected to prevail and it does give Arsenal the opportunity to defeat one of Roman Abramovich's teams in CSKA Moscow.
Quite why the BBC chose to investigate Arsenal over their now defunct link with Beveren when Abramovich was effectively in both camps when Chelsea faced the Russians a couple of years ago is open to question, but that is another story altogether.
Bayern Munich will be thankful that Juventus is banned having met them in the group stages for the past two seasons, but still find themselves pitted against the Italian Champions, now Inter Milan.
Give it another three or four seasons and there can only be more friendships, or hatred, between clubs developing. At that time it is quite likely that around twenty-five of this season's participants will once again be involved and Chelsea fans may start buying season tickets for the Nou Camp.
The full draw for those that wish to re-check who other teams will play, or just want to check who is traveling to Shakhtar Donetsk (300 miles east of Kiev), is below.
GROUP A
FC Barcelona (ESP)
Chelsea (ENG)
Werder Bremen (GER)
Levski Sofia(BUL)
GROUP B
Inter Milan (ITA)
Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR)
Spartak Moscow (RUS)
GROUP C
Liverpool (ENG)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Bordeaux (FRA)
Galatasaray (TUR)
GROUP D
Valencia (ESP)
AS Roma (ITA)
Olympiakos (GRE)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
GROUP E
Real Madrid (ESP)
Lyon (FRA)
Steaua (ROM)
Dynamo Kiev (UKR)
GROUP F
Manchester United (ENG)
Celtic (SCO)
Benfica (POR)
FC Copenhagen (DEN)
GROUP G
Arsenal (ENG)
FC Porto (POR)
CSKA Moscow (RUS)
Hamburg (GER)
GROUP H
AC Milan (ITA)
Lille (FRA)
AEK Athens (GRE)
Anderlecht (BEL)
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