UEFA Champions League Draws: Group F reactions
In the group F of the UEFA Champions league, there will be some high profile reunions soon since English Champions Chelsea FC, Olympique de Marseille, FC Spartak Moskva and MŠK Žilina were drawn together.
Chelsea would welcome former midfielder, Didier Deschamps, who is now the coach at Marseille. The coach would now be travelling to his former home, Stamford Bridge, in a reunion with his boyhood club. Chelsea hitman Didier Drogba would also be reuniting with his former club, Marseille, whom he left back in 2004 to join the Blues. Drogba would travel to Velodrome to play against his former club, which would be an extraordinary spectacle. The French side would face Spartak once again, a team they defeated in the 90/91 semi-finals and Zilina would be familiar territory, when they face Chelsea in West London. Zilina met Chelsea back in 2003 and would be looking to extract some revenge this time round.
Chelsea director David Barnard claimed that the tie could’ve been much more difficult than what they got. The director, however, stated that no game in the Champions league has faced French opposition, which always proves to be tough. Former Chelsea player Didier Deschamps would be returning to Stamford Bridge and Didier Drogba joining former club, making the championship more interesting. The director added that they have played Zilina before in a qualifier and have travelled to Moscow a lot of times in recent times. Double winners Chelsea would be looking to land their first-ever Champions League trophy, a royal the club-owner Roman Abramovich desperately craves for.
French Champions Marseille president, Jean-Claude Dassier looked forward to having former player Didier Drogba at Velodrome once again. The President claimed that it would be both pleasant and satisfying to see the former player in France. The president added that Chelsea is the benchmark and playing in two games would be the deciding factor for the team. The president continued claiming that they have a chance of going through, as they have recently strengthened their squad and there would be no room for complains. The President ended the statement that the Champions league is never easy and they would have to be ready for everything.
Spartak Striker Nikita Bazhenov claimed that he was happy to be in the same group as Chelsea. The striker added that there’s nothing that needs to be said about the team as it is one of the most well known teams. The forward relishes the chance to play in England in a team, which employs Yuri Zhirkov. Nikita went on stating that Marseille is also well-known in Europe because of its astounding squad. Bazhenov claimed that although he doesn’t know much about Zilina, his side wouldn’t be banking on luck to proceed through the next round of the competition on luck. The player claimed that since the team has made it through, they would be strong and fight hard in order to qualify. The hitman considered his side to be all prepared for qualifying to the next round.
Underdogs Zilina coach, Pavel Hapal claimed the group to be a tough one but playing against teams like Chelsea would give them huge experience. The manager added that he looked forward to playing against Spanish clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid, but unfortunately, that couldn’t happen. As far as the chances of progressing to further rounds, the coach claimed that it was difficult to predict anything. The manager claimed that he doesn’t know what will happen and just expects to give his all. Hapal added on claiming that his side would be ready to put up a fight against the top sides.
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