The testimony to Barca’s dominance of European football last season was on display today at the draw for the group stage of the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League. The European champions swept the awards ceremony, winning most of the silverware on offer. Carles Puyol Saforcada was awarded the defender of the year. Anderson Luis de Souza aka Deco bagged the Midfielder of the year award whereas Samuel Eto’o pipped Henry and Ronaldinho to get the Forward of the year award.
The biggest award of the night was won by the talismanic, buck toothed midfielder from Rio Grande do Sul, Ronaldinho, hailed by many as the greatest footballer of his time, when he bagged the UEFA Footballer of the year award.
Talking about the draw for group stages, Barca find themselves in a rather tough group A with English Champions Chelsea, German giants Werder Bremen and relatively unknowns PFC Levski Sofia from Bulgaria. This is the third straight season when two of the biggest powerhouses of Europe will be clashing at this stage. Although the last two encounters were won by Barca and deservedly so, the resurgent Chelsea with a motto of proving their worth in the Champions league are more than capable of reversing the trend.
Perennial favorites AC Milan find themselves in a relatively easy draw with LOSC Lille Métropole (France), AEK Athens FC (Greece) and RSC Anderlecht (Belgium) giving company. Weakened by Schevencheko’ departure to Chelsea and clearly lacking a world class striker, remember Gilardino and Inzaghi were not even first choices for their country, they still hold a threat to the rest of the biggies, mainly due to their traditional powerful defence line and the art of wearing the opponents down before going for a kill. But the players are aging fast; skipper Maldini is on the verge of 40, Cafu seems to be playing for eternity now and Costacurta is in the fourth decade of his life. With no new signings in the horizon, I don’t see them bettering their last season semifinals appearance.
The red devils, Man United are in group F and will be facing Celtic FC from Scotland, champions of 1966/67, for the first time in UEFA club competition. With a resounding start to their Premiership season, drubbing Fulham and then Charlton, they are the team to beat in this year’s competition. Much depends on the temperamental Rooney and how he inspires rest of the bunch to raise their game a notch above the rest. SL Benfica from Portugal and FC København from Denmark complete the group.
The complete group draw is:
2006/07 UEFA Champions League
Group A
FC Barcelona (ESP)
Chelsea FC (ENG)
Werder Bremen (GER)
PFC Levski Sofia (BUL)
2006/07 UEFA Champions League
Group B
FC Internazionale Milano (ITA)
FC Bayern München (GER)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
FC Spartak Moskva (RUS)
2006/07 UEFA Champions League
Group C
Liverpool FC (ENG)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
FC Girondins de Bordeaux (FRA)
Galatasaray SK (TUR)
2006/07 UEFA Champions League
Group D
Valencia CF (ESP)
AS Roma (ITA)
Olympiacos CFP (GRE)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
2006/07 UEFA Champions League
Group E
Real Madrid CF (ESP)
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
FC Steaua Bucuresti (ROU)
FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
2006/07 UEFA Champions League
Group F
Manchester United FC (ENG)
Celtic FC (SCO)
SL Benfica (POR)
FC København (DEN)
2006/07 UEFA Champions League
Group G
Arsenal FC (ENG)
FC Porto (POR)
PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS)
Hamburger SV (GER)
2006/07 UEFA Champions League
Group H
AC Milan (ITA)
LOSC Lille Métropole (FRA)
AEK Athens FC (GRE)
RSC Anderlecht (BEL)
1 comment:
Good post.
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