needless to say the CL has already started with prelims.

but now this is where it really gets interesting. the latest draws:

FC Basel v Werder Bremen
Artmedia Bratislava/Celtic v Partizan Belgrade/Sheriff
Shakhtar Donetsk v Inter Milan
Shelbourne/Steaua Bucuresti v Rosenborg
Manchester United v Debrecen/Hajduk Split
Malmo/Maccabi Haifa v Dynamo Kiev/FC Thun
Everton v Villarreal
FBK Kaunas/Liverpool v KF Tirana/CSKA Sofia
Sporting Lisbon v Udinese
Valerenga/FC Haka v Club Bruges
F91 Dudelange/Rapid Wien v Rabotnicki/Lokomotiv Moscow
Anderlecht/FH Neftchi v Slavia Prague
Anorthosis Famagusta/Trabzonspor v Rangers
Dinamo Tbilisi/Brondby v Ajax
Real Betis v Monaco
Wisla Krakow v Panathanaikos

i believe Inter shouldn't have any problem with aghahowa's boys.
i hope udinese makes it. honestly, i would have preferred sampdoria in the CL. i believe they would have maintained most of their squad. udinese on the other hand, let their coach, captain and a few others go.

another tough one is Betis vs. Monaco. damn!

everton? ha ha ha . the english thought they'd have 5 teams in the CL proper. ha!

Celtic already lost 5 - 0 to Artmedia from Slovakia

http://www.goal.com/NewsDetail.aspx?idNews=76532&idSez=126

"But it was not easy to win this way. A lot of the Celtic players are media stars but I hope they remember our name and the names of the [Artmedia] players after tonight." -- Artmedia coach Vladimir Weiss


Not sure but i does anybody have an idea what the top-seeded teams will be?
so far i'm sure of milan and juve

dont be too sure codec after all who thot liverpool would win the champions league...

villareal may not beat everton...

am not an everton fan...but anything can happen...football is not about the number of stars u have now...it is how well u play...

for example look at the dynamo kiev team of 98/99 UCL.... who wouuld have thot the sheva and rebrov led attack of dynamo kiev would beat real madrid.. and in fact it took bayern a stroke of luck to draw 3 3 in ukraine in that unfortunate semi final...if kiev had met man utd...manu would nt have won d UCL that year....

u know that... so ....

I still stand on the precept that money has devalued the CL for us. It used to be a lot more fun back in the days when a maximum of 2 teams per country was allowed. That aside, it made the various league tougher on their own merits. Now what do we have? People like Everton playing for fourth at the beginning of the season instead of talking of trying to win the Premiership!

yeah. i agree too. then, it was truly the champions cup. then we also had the uefa cup and cup winner's cup

the uefa cup was really cool back then. it was something to win. then all of a sudden lennart johansson changed things a bit because of money and the proposed super league if i remember correctly.

@lordimpaq. sure this is football. anything can happen but in this case nothing will surprise me. villareal will be rated as the underdogs but i know they will win.

@lordimpard

Sheva and rebov were europes deadliest and most coveted strike force then, so they really had a good chance of winning the champs league then. I agree with the thought that if they had met man u no man u victory in 99 CL. Regarding this yrs draws, sorry 4 everton. U just have to look at the transfer market and u will know what there fate would be. i expect a villareal victory, home and away. The toughest march 4 me is real betis vs monaco and udinese vs sporting lisbon

Betis vs Monaco. I don't expect Udinese to win because they sold te core of their last season's team. But because of Obodo, I'd be rooting for them...

wow, last night Celtic tried their best but only managed a 4 - 0 win over artmedia which means they lose 5 - 4 on aggregate

now, they're totally out of europe. not that i care anyway.

obodo is just a waste of money for udinese....but come to think of it.....is obodo good..?

to me he is as wacked as any fake player.....he is a "wanna be" to him...i even play better than him...

well i still want to watch shakther vs inter milan...that one looks interesting i may consider betis monaco

and hear the victory of villareal as i expected.......but also with my fingers crossed.....

"i still think david moyes is up to something"

yeah david moyes was up to something -> nothing!

villareal comfortably beat everton at merseyside 2 - 1.

my man, tacchinardi made his debut (i think) for villareal and almost made it 3 - 1. you arsenal fans complain of losing vieira after 9 years well tacchi has been at juve for 11 yrs and i definitely miss him. i would have preferred any other CM to leave but i guess capello had other ideas. the plus is that he would be playing more football this season.

it's a good thing it's a loan deal though. i hope he gets to elbow ronaldo again.

other results:

Valerenga 1 v Club Bruges 0
Manchester United 3 v Debrecen 0
Real Betis 1 v Monaco 0
Wisla Krakow 3 v Panathanaikos 1
Anorthosis Famagusta 0 v Rangers 2

"lordimpaq":

obodo is just a waste of money for udinese.but come to think of it.is obodo good..?

to me he is as wacked as any fake player.he is a "want to be" to him...i even play better than him...

he's not as bad as you think though he has his bad days. yes, he has never impressed for the national team. i just hope udinese qualify then you'll see for yourself. but too bad for udinese, they'll be without their player of last season, di michelle.

Obodo was on for 90 minutes as Udinese pipped Sporting 1-0 in Lisbon. Solid performance in a role that we should play him in. Though not spctacular.

Oba Oba scored one, almost scored another and was on for 90 minutes as Inter ploughed Shakhtar 2-0 in DOnetsk. Bros Aghagowa wasn't listed.

yeah.....if called upon to play for the national team...he always ends up playing rubbish...but not a bad performance for udinese.......they should be able to do something meaningful in italy...

oba goal....i can always trust that guy.....

i don't expect udinese to match last season's performance. i'd rather see sampdoria in the CL (flacchi is a player i admire).

i wasn't expecting anything less from martins. a job well done. inter probably have the most feared strike duo in italy, even europe. come to think of it, the italian sides have the best strike force in europe

juve = ibrahimovic, trezeguet
milan = schechenko, gilardino
fiorentina = bojinov, toni
roma = cassano, montella

man! this season no go easy for cannavaro and thuram.

so:
inter
udinese
villareal
betis
man utd
liverpool
rangers
bremen
anderlecht

all qualify. i only saw the villareal vs everton game. riquelme! man whenever this guy touches the ball he gives me an erection (figuratively of course). this guy totally reminds me of zidane of old.

udinese beat lisbon 3-2. congrats to obodo. he'll be playing in the CL proper for the first time (i think).

the draws will be made today. i wonder who the top 8 seeded teams are. Chxta?

The much-anticipated draw for the Champions League group stage has been made in Monaco and the 32 teams hoping to be in Paris next May now know how their campaigns will begin. There is no doubt what the headline is and that both of last years semi-finals, AC Milan-PSV and Liverpool-Chelsea, will be repeated in the group stage.
The all-England match-up in Group G was possible as Liverpool were not awarded any country protection due to the special circumstances of their conclusion in the competition. They will be joined by Anderlecht and Real Betis.

In a big coincidence PSV Eindhoven were placed in the same group as AC Milan, who beat them in last years semi-final. They are joined in Group E by Schalke 04 and Fenerbahce.

There is also the mouth-watering match-up of European giants Bayern Munich and Juventes in Group A to look forward to. The group is completed by Club Brugge and Rapid Vienna.

Manchester United will face former striker Diego Forlan as they are tied with Villarreal, as well as Lille and Benfica in Group D.

Group A
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Club Brugge
Rapid Vienna

Group B
Arsenal
Ajax
Sparta Praha
FC Thun

Group C
Barcelona
Panathinaikos
Werder Bremen
Udinese

Group D
Manchester United
Villarreal
Lille
Benfica

Group E
AC Milan
PSV Eindhoven
Schalke 04
Fenerbahace

Group F
Real Madrid
Lyon
Olympiakos
Rosenborg

Group G
Liverpool
Chelsea
Anderlecht
Real Betis

Group H
Inter Milan
Porto
Rangers
Artmedia Bratislava

My tips:

GroupA: Juve Bayern
GroupB: Ajax Arsenal
GroupC: Barca Udinese
GroupD: ManU Villa
GroupE: Milan PSV
GroupF: Madrid (and any body, probably Lyon)
GroupG: Liverpool Betis
GroupH: Inter Porto

Chxta you are too fast.

Great job my man.

I just wanted to post the draw I saw yours.

You are too much.

How do you see the draw?

Watched it from UEFA's website...

One of the beauties of the net...

Who needs DSTv when you have the internet?

Yeah man you still compare both.

Web is web and DSTV will always be.

Chelsea and Liverpool meeting again but now in group stages.

How do you see the group?

Liverpool are definitely going through, Benitez knows what it takes to beat teams like Betis (from his time in Spain), and I think he is tactically better than Mourinho...

Based on the way they've started the season, I see don't see Chelsea progressing. You need to see the way Betis handled Monaco. But then it is too early to start making rash judgements...

Anderlecht are no hopers. The only good thing there for me is that Aliyu Mohammed will play UCL football.

The tips I sent were just based on intuition, no analysis.

[img]http://www.juventuz.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&postid=792324[/img]

[img]http://www.juventuz.com/forum/attachment.php?s=&postid=792326[/img]

Chxta, how fast is your connection?

how the hell did uefa seed these teams. big time under achievers, arsenal were among the top 8?!? well, i think it was a good draw for the italian teams. milan have it the hardest though. schalke and PSV won't go easy on them. i think udinese will spring up a surprise against barca.

bayern will be out for revenge against juve but nothing dey happen. we'll beat them home and away again. the other two teams are no-hopers.

i agree with most of Chxta's predictions but i think chelsea are favorites in their group. pool and betis would have to challenge for the 2nd spot.

man i can't wait for the tournament to start.

Chxta:

Liverpool are definitely going through, Benitez knows what it takes to beat teams like Betis (from his time in Spain), and I think he is tactically better than Mourinho...

Based on the way they've started the season, I see don't see Chelsea progressing. You need to see the way Betis handled Monaco. But then it is too early to start making rash judgements...

Anderlecht are no hopers. The only good thing there for me is that Aliyu Mohammed will play UCL football.

The tips I sent were just based on intuition, no analysis.

No sir! Benitez is not tactically better than Mourinho.
I disagree with you.

We always focus on the Champions League and tend to forget the UEFA Cup! This competition is important because while the participating clubs get 40%-60% (depepnding on how far you go) of the revenue that UCL participants get, it at least ensures that the UEFA wealth percolates to a far greater number of clubs than the Champions League does...

UEFA Cup draw:

Group One:
Auxerre v Levski Sofia
Hamburg v FC Copenhagen
Slavia Prague v Cork City
Metalurg v PAOK
Dinamo Bucharest v Everton

Group Two:
MyPa v Grasshoppers
Crvena Zvezda v Braga
Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen v Marseille
Bayer Leverkusen v CSKA Sofia
CSKA Moskva v FC Midtjylland

Group Three:
Setubal v Sampdoria
Sevilla v Mainz
Basel v Siroki Brijeg
Feyernoord v Rapid Bucharest
Hibernian v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk

Group Four:
Rennes v Osasuna
Vitoria Guimaraes v Wisla Krakow
Krylya Sovetov v AZ Alkmaar
VfB Stuttgart v NK Domzale
Valerenga v Steaua Bucharest

Group Five:
Graz AK v Strasbourg
Lokomotiv Moscow v Brann
Palermo v Anorthosis Famagusta
Halmstad v Sporting
Middlesbrough v Xanthi

Group Six:
Maccabi Petach-Tikva v FK Partizan
Aris v Roma
Besiktas v Malmo
Litex Lovech v Genk
Banik Ostrava v Heerenveen

Group Seven:
Hertha Berlin v APOEL
FK Teplice v Espanyol
Monaco v Willem II
Viking v Austria Wien
Brondby v FC Zurich

Group Eight:
Lens v Groclin
Tromso v Galatasaray
Bolton v Lokomotiv Plovdiv
Shakhtar Donetsk v Debrecen
Zenit St. Petersburg v AEK Athens

my favorites?
sampdoria of course. but it won't be easy with the strength of the french teams.

i predict the cup will go to italy or france this time around.

CL proper has finally landed. for sheezy baby.

i'm looking forward to the fernabache vs. milan game cos i'm a big fan of appiah.

i'm hope betis humiliates liverpool.

[img]http://www.juventuz.com/forum/avatar.php?userid=3255&dateline=1126654044[/img]

FORZA JUVE

brugges 0 - juve 4

Champions League Team of the week for matchday one.

word has it that miccoli will be back in italy at palermo in january.