25 August 2010

Champions League 2010/11 draw tomorrow!!


The road to Wembley Stadium, 28th May 2011 begins!! It only gets bigger and more exciting each year.

Just for the record, this would be the 56th Champions League season and Manchester United alongside Sir Alex have big hopes after last year's early exit thanks to Wayne Rooney's injury. 

Last year, one would say (especially Sir Alex) it was a tough group stage encounter with United finally finishing top of the group in 2009. 

The group stage draw for this season takes place tomorrow at 16.00 GMT / 18.00 CET at the Grimaldi forum in Monaco, Spain.

The line-up is now complete each of the 32 teams have been divided into four seeding pots for the draw.

It is a proud moment for Mancheste United as they witness this draw for the record 16th time out of the maximum of 19 played so far in the history of UEFA.

The four Pots are listed below (Source: uefa.com)

ClubQualified asLast in group stage
Previous appearances
Last season*
Best performance**
Pot 1
FC Internazionale MilanoHolders/ Champions, Italy2009/109WinnersWinners (1964, 1965, 2010)
FC BarcelonaChampions, Spain2009/1014Semi-finalsWinners (1992, 2006, 2009)
Manchester United FCRunners-up, England2009/1015Quarter-finalsWinners (1968, 1999, 2008)
Chelsea FCChampions, England2009/108Round of 16Runners-up (2008)
Arsenal FCThird place, England2009/1012Quarter-finalsRunners-up (2006)
FC Bayern MünchenChampions, Germany2009/1013Runners-upWinners (1974, 1975, 1976, 2001)
AC MilanThird place, Italy2009/1013Round of 16Winners (1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007)
Olympique LyonnaisRunners-up, France2009/1010Semi-finalsSemi-finals
Pot 2
SV Werder BremenThird place, Germany2008/096UEFA Europa League, Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Real Madrid CFRunners-up, Spain2009/1014Round of 16Winners (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002)
AS RomaRunners-up, Italy2008/096UEFA Europa League, Round of 32Runners-up (1984)
FC Shakhtar DonetskChampions, Ukraine2008/095UEFA Europa League, Round of 32Group stage
SL BenficaChampions, Portugal2007/085UEFA Europa League, Quarter-finalsWinners (1961, 1962)
Valencia CFThird place, Spain2007/086UEFA Europa League, Quarter-finalsRunners-up (2000, 2001)
Olympique de MarseilleChampions, France2009/106UEFA Europa League, Round of 16Winners (1993)
Panathinaikos FCChampions, Greece2008/098UEFA Europa League, Round of 16Runners-up (1971)
Pot 3
Tottenham Hotspur FCFourth place, EnglandDebut0Did not compete in UEFA competitionSemi-finals
Rangers FCChampions, Scotland2009/109Group stageSemi-finals
AFC AjaxRunners-up,
Netherlands
2005/068UEFA Europa League, Round of 32Winners (1971, 1972, 1973, 1995)
FC Schalke 04Runners-up, Germany2007/082Did not compete in UEFA competitionQuarter-finals
FC Basel 1893Champions, Switzerland2008/092UEFA Europa League group stageSecond group stage
SC BragaRunners-up, PortugalDebut0UEFA Europa League, third qualifying roundN/A
FC København Champions, Denmark2006/071UEFA Europa League, Round of 32Group stage
FC Spartak MoskvaRunners-up, Russia2006/079Did not compete in UEFA competitionSemi-finals
Pot 4
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FCChampions, RomaniaDebut0UEFA Europa League, third qualifying roundN/A
FC TwenteChampions, NetherlandsDebut0UEFA Europa League, Round of 32N/A
FC Rubin KazanChampions, Russia2009/101UEFA Europa League, Round of 16Group stage
AJ AuxerreThird place, France2009/103Did not compete in UEFA competitionQuarter-finals
CFR 1907 ClujChampions, Romania2008/091UEFA Europa League, group stageGroup stage
FK PartizanChampions, Serbia2003/041UEFA Europa League, group stageGroup stage
MÅ K Žilina Champions, SlovakiaDebut0UEFA Europa League, play-off roundN/A
BursasporChampions, TurkeyDebut0Did not compete in UEFA competitionN/A 

Now you must be wondering what the hell a "Pot" mean? 
Well basically, there would be one team from each pot in one group. All this means is that neither Man United or Barca or Chelsea can't be in the same group. There cannot be more than one team from a pot in the same group. For a group to form, there got to be a team from each Pot. Pots is a relatively new way to chop the teams into reasonable and fair groups. It will ensure that each group is the same, surely it wouldn't make sense if Man Utd play Inter Milan at group stage would it? Although I'm cent percent sure United will beat Inter anyway..

What TheReDevilSpot predicts for Manchester United
-----------> Manchester United ENG <--------------
------------>        Valencia SPN         <--------------
------------>          Spurs ENG           <--------------
------------>     FC Twente NED       <--------------

Have your say!

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