[funkdoctorspock]

Almost time for one of my favourite club competitions to get underway.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.

The group stage draw will be conducted on Thursday.

Date: Thursday, 30 August
Time: 1700 BST

Wouldn't mind facing Benfica again... would be an easy night for whoever has to mark Adu...

You can go HERE to see the draw. Last year the servers were flooded with traffic. So, if you can't manage to see it live, I think I might have a lil surprise for you later in the day...

The draw for the Champions League group stages takes place on Thursday at 1700 BST with Celtic and Arsenal hoping to make it six British teams among the 32.

Celtic drew 1-1 at Spartak Moscow and will fancy their chances in the home leg, while Arsenal will be confident following a 2-0 win at Sparta Prague.

Liverpool and Rangers booked their passage on Wednesday, joining Chelsea and Manchester United in the hat.

Both Sevilla and AEK Athens will be in the draw despite playing next Monday.

The second-leg tie between the pair was postponed following the death of the Spanish club's 22-year-old defender Antonio Puerta.

Sevilla, who hold a 2-0 lead from the first leg, will be among the group of second seeds while AEK Athens are ranked among one of the bottom seeds.

Uefa general secretary David Taylor told uefa.com: "The draw will take place on Thursday at 1700 BST, as scheduled.

"There are additional complications this season related to the tragic and unforeseen circumstances that caused the postponement of the AEK Athens v Sevilla match.

"This means that both clubs will be 'provisionally' entered in this season's competition."

Uefa splits the 32 entrants into four pots of eight teams, divided according to their current European ranking.

Each group will contain one team from the top seeds, one from the second seeds, one for the third and one from the fourth.
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[ROONEYGR]

i hope to draw with olympiakos for two reasons!!

Firstly it is a perfect chance to watch the team from the stadium

Secondly we will take 6 points easily

[funkdoctorspock]

the group stage draw is happenning in about 3 hours. Any teams you like to see United face in the group state? how about teams to avoid?

Here is the seedings for the draw.

2007/08 UEFA Champions League
Group stage draw - 18.00CET, Thursday
POT 1
Team Pairing
AC Milan (ITA, holders)
FC Barcelona (ESP)
Liverpool FC (ENG)
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
Arsenal FC (ENG)
Real Madrid CF (ESP)
Chelsea FC (ENG)
Manchester United FC (ENG)

POT 2
Team Pairing
Valencia CF (ESP)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
FC Porto (POR)
Sevilla FC (ESP) / AEK Athens FC (GRE)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
AS Roma (ITA)
SL Benfica (POR)
Werder Bremen (GER)

POT 3
Team Pairing
Celtic FC (SCO)
FC Schalke 04 (GER)
VfB Stuttgart (GER)
FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU)
PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
S.S. Lazio (ITA) G
Olympique de Marseille (FRA)

POT 4
Team Pairing
Rangers FC (SCO)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Beşiktaş JK (TUR)
Olympiacos CFP (GRE)
FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
Fenerbahçe SK (TUR)
SK Slavia Praha (CZE)
Rosenborg BK (NOR)

English clubs Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are all among the eight top seeds for Thursday's UEFA Champions League draw for the group stage.


The English giants are joined by two from Spain - Barcelona and Real Madrid - plus title holders AC Milan and their city rivals Inter.

Celtic are among the third seeds in the draw with Rangers among the fourth seeds.

Before the names are drawn out of the hat UEFA are due to announce sweeping changes to the format of the competition.

UEFA president Michel Platini is expected to confirm the details of his plans to open up the Champions League to wider competition, specifically by giving domestic cup winners an opportunity to make it into the 32-team group phase.

It is understood that his plans would have 16 cup winners from Europe's leading countries in a qualifying competition for four places in the group stage of the Champions League. This qualifying event would be run in parallel to a qualifying competition based on domestic league positions for 12 other places, to join the 16 teams who qualify automatically.

Discussion

UEFA general secretary David Taylor said: "The competition is the ultimate stage for European club football and we are looking at the access list arrangements to see if we can improve the qualifying routes which might allow the opportunity to broaden the geographic spread of this competition.

"We are having a big discussion about this at the Professional Football strategy board on Friday. The idea is that winners qualify for competitions and that's a good principle."

Taylor also made it clear that only cup winners would be allowed to enter the Champions League qualifying process - currently runners-up can go into the UEFA Cup if the winners have already qualified through their league.

Under the proposals, if as happened in England last season Chelsea were FA Cup winners and had already qualified automatically then the fourth-placed side - in this case Arsenal - would have to try to qualify through the 'cup' route.

Platini's proposals would also see changes in Scotland with the champions and cup winners given qualifying places rather than the top two in the league.

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[funkdoctorspock]

We got a pretty difficult group. Here it is...

SAF says that 10 pts should do it. I think we'll need a bit more tbh.

The Roma fixtures are going to be incredibly difficult. There will be no repeat of last season. As much as I would like to see United smash Roma again 7-1, we all witnessed a rare occasion. Also, Roma beefed up this offseason tremendously. The games will be tight.

I'm not a fan of United playing in the former USSR. That fixture will be a challenge as well.

With Sporting, I expect an easy time. I don't know why... maybe because Ronaldo and Nani will have something to prove. I know Ronaldo lost his cool the last time he ventured to Portugal (v Benfica), but I have a feeling that his maturity will see him through.

Here's SAF's comments...

Boss targets 10 points

Sir Alex Ferguson feels 10 points will be enough to see United safely through a tricky Champions League qualifying group.

The Reds are joined in Group F by Roma, Sporting Lisbon and Dynamo Kiev, and the Boss is certain that little will separate the four teams as they vie for qualification.

“It’s going to be a very tight group,” he told ManUtd.com. “I hope we can get 10 points. It’s going to be difficult, but if we get 10 points, I think we’ll qualify.”

United have been drawn against Roma just five months after crushing the Italians 8-3 on aggregate in last season’s quarter-final, which was marred by off-pitch violence before or during both games.

And with Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo - two former Sporting players – in the United ranks, together with a good knowledge of Kiev’s virtues, Sir Alex knows that his side face a tough task to emerge from the group.

“Obviously Roma will be the talking point after last season,” he said. “Dynamo Kiev are a good side and we know quite a lot about Sporting Lisbon because we have two of their former players here. The whole group poses interesting aspects.”
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[GocartMozart]

ehhh, i don't think it's as bad as any other group. honestly i'm really interested in liverpool going back to turkey.

[RobsonLegend]

11-12 points, and then I think we'll be really safe. 10 isn't going to do it, I don't think. I don't like having to go to Kiev, but seeing as how there was a trip to Turkey in the offering when Pot 4 was drawn, can't really complain now.