Champions League Draw Preview, Mourinho Could Face Former Clubs Chelsea Or Inter Milan
It’s that time of the year again when the Champions League group stages are drawn and Europe’s elite get set to compete for the most coveted prize in Europe. With the conclusion of the qualification round last night, the pots have been drawn and here they are:
POT ONE: Inter Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Lyon.
POT TWO: Werder Bremen, Real Madrid, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Valencia, Marseille and Panathinaikos.
POT THREE: Tottenham, Rangers, Ajax, Schalke, Basel, Braga, Copenhagen and Spartak Moscow.
POT FOUR: Hapoel Tel Aviv, Twente , Rubin Kazan, Auxerre, Cluj, Partizan Belgrade, Zilina and Bursaspor.
The 22 qualifiers are joined by the 10 play off winners and are separated based on their home country and their previous performance in Europe. Each group is made up from each of the four pots. Clubs from the same country cannot be drawn against each other; in fact they are kept on the opposite ends of the draw, as far as possible from each other.
The draw is computerized, the fate of Europe’s top teams resting in the hands of a computer. The top two teams from each group qualify for the last 16. The teams which end up in the third place in the group stages are automatically dropped into the last 32 of the Europa League. Second to the Champions League, the Europa League offers some form of consolation to the Champions League failures.
Pundits have accused the Champions League group stages of being too boring, saying that the early stages of the competition had lost its magic. The interesting bit of the competition is supposed to start in late February, when the competition is well underway and into the knockout round. However, this year looks to be different.
Jose Mourinho’s wish to return to England could come true sooner than he had expected as Real Madrid could face one of England’s top four; Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham Hot Spurs. The Spanish giants find themselves in the second pot, which makes one of the English clubs an inevitable possibility.
One can’t help but think about Real Madrid facing Premier League Champions Chelsea, which is also Mourinho’s former club, where things didn’t end on a friendly note. Since his departure, Mourinho has done his best to lure the top players from Chelsea, succeeding recently with Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho.
While managing Inter Milan, Mourinho very confidently claimed that he did not lose at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea claim is a fortress. It had been until they lost to Liverpool under Scolari’s short reign, they did start working towards setting a new home record, but that was not to be. Mourinho’s Inter beat the Blues at Stamford Bridge in last season’s Champions League quarter finals.
The Special One will be looking to repeat his success at Stamford Bridge, but old rival Ancelotti will do everything to prevent that. The Italian tactician learnt from the premature dumping at the hands of Inter last season and will do everything to prepare his team for the competition this season.
Alternatively, the Portuguese manager could also face his former club Inter Milan, which is now being managed by Liverpool reject Benitez. This would present a challenge which the Special One would enjoy; he would get a chance to continue his feud with his old nemesis. The two, when in charge of Chelsea and Liverpool respectively, previously always clashed in Europe since the Blues had total domination domestically.
MATCHDAYS:
September 14-15
September 28-29
October 19-20
November 2-3
November 23-24
December 7-8
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