2011/2012 UEFA CL

RanzB

RanzB

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Champions League draw

Arsenal will join the top seeds in the Champions League draw on Thursday afternoon following their victory over Udinese but Manchester City face a tough introduction to life in Europe's elite club competition. Roberto Mancini's side are among the group of third seeds, meaning a potential draw with Barcelona, Milan and Borussia Dortmund.

The other English clubs in the Champions League draw are all among the top seeds, alongside Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter, Porto and Bayern Munich. Trabzonspor complete the line-up in pot four after Fenerbahce were withdrawn by the Turkish Football Federation due to an ongoing match-fixing investigation.

Mancini has made it clear he intends to rotate his squad to ensure the side are capable of challenging in Europe and the three domestic competitions. "[Rotating] is no problem for me," said the City manager. "The problem is if you don't have good players. For the manager it is not easy because all the players want to play every game. But when you play in four competitions and have a match every three days, there is space for everyone. It is impossible to play a top game every three days. And the Champions League is very hard. It is different from the Europa League. For this we need a good team, with good players and a good mentality."

Uefa's rules for the draw will see the 32 qualified teams allocated into eight groups of four teams. Each group will contain a top seed, plus one club each from the second, third and fourth pots. Each pot is determined by a club's Uefa ranking and the top two in each group will go through to the knockout phase of the Champions League, and the third-place side to the knockout phase of the Europa League.

Pots for the Champions League draw

Pot one: Man Utd, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Porto, Inter.

Pot two: Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, Villarreal, Milan, Valencia, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, Benfica.

Pot three: Zenit St Petersburg, Man City, Olympiakos, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Basle, Lille, BATE.

Pot four: Borussia Dortmund, Dinamo Zagreb, Napoli, Apoel, Genk, Trabzonspor, Otelul Galati, Viktoria Plzen.
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How do Arsenal, who had to have a play off match to get into the CL, make it into the top pot but City, who automatically qualified, end up in the third pot?
 
It is based on UEFA co-efficients that are calculated over a period of three years(I think) not just performance over one season. This also explains why German champions Dortmund are in pot 4.
 
badtrev said:
It is based on UEFA co-efficients that are calculated over a period of three years(I think) not just performance over one season. This also explains why German champions Dortmund are in pot 4.
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Yup.
 
badtrev said:
It is based on UEFA co-efficients that are calculated over a period of three years(I think) not just performance over one season. This also explains why German champions Dortmund are in pot 4.
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and French champions Lille are in pot 3 but Lyon and Marseille are in pot 2. All the non English teams in pot 1 are praying to avoid Man City I bet.
 
Randhir said:
Doubt Barca are afraid of them.

I hope the ****ers draw Barca, Milan and Otelul Galati.
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I'm hoping the pot will be:

Barcelona, Milan, Man City, Borussia Dortmund

but knowing UEFA, Barce will prob end up with

Barcelona, Benfica, Basle/BATE, Trabzonspor
 
Would LOVE for City to draw Barcelona. Would be a nice welcome to the CL.

Also City were pretty piss poor in Europa last season anyway...
 
R13... said:
United haven't had a tough draw in a while. No, the Italians don't count.
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If you're a top seed then you usually avoid tough group stages unless you get unlucky.

Also, we do ourselves favours and win our groups, making it easier for ourselves in the the coming rounds..

AND (edit) we have harder groups than Arsenal usually.

Last year:Arsenal faced Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga & Partizan Belgrade and didn't even win their group.

Year before that: Arsenal, Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard.

Not the toughest group stages either.
.
 
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Why not Man United, Villarreal, Man City and Borussia Dortmund. That would be tough group for United :)
 
Randhir said:
If you're a top seed then you usually avoid tough group stages unless you get unlucky.

Also, we do ourselves favours and win our groups, making it easier for ourselves in the the coming rounds..
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Touche.
Good point on winning your groups. We at arsenal have been our own worst enemies fielding weakened teams.
 
Don't understand how they choose the groups people go in... Like Man City were automatically put in a group when there were 2 others open, without english clubs in them.
 
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