By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
One of football’s most anticipated draws was conducted on Thursday as UEFA officials and former players including Michael Owen and Lisbon final ambassador Luis Figo did the draw for the group stages of the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League.
This season, it is Arsenal who have received the toughest group out of the British representatives, but do the Gunners deserve to have the perennial ‘Group of Death’ from UEFA this season?
For anyone who missed the draw, the north Londoners (Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski pictured) have been paired in Group F with former Champions League winners Marseille and Borussia Dortmund and Serie A runners-up Napoli who are now managed by former Valencia and Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez.
Dortmund will start the group as favourites, considering they came so close to winning the Champions League back in May at Wembley Stadium. Napoli will also fancy their chances, due to their summer recruitments and the European experience of Benitez. It means Arsenal will have to probably beat both sides at least once to progress.
Normally 10 points is enough to advance from the group stages, although as Manchester City will know from 2011-12, that doesn’t always guarantee qualification. You have to imagine that the French runners-up Marseille are clearly good enough to cause a surprise and snatch the odd point here and there too, although the 1993 winners of this prize will do extremely well to escape the group.
History does tell you that for many years, Arsenal have got a relatively straightforward group at this time of year. Not since the 2003-04 competition where they were drawn with Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev and Lokomotiv Moscow could you argue that Arsene Wenger’s side have had things the hard way.
Here are some of the groups Arsenal had at this hurdle in the last decade.
SEASON
|
TEAMS FACED
|
FINAL GROUP POSITION
|
2012-13
|
Schalke 04, Olympiakos, Montpellier
|
2nd
|
2011-12
|
Borussia Dortmund, Olympiakos, Marseille
|
1st
|
2010-11
|
Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Braga, Partizan Belgrade
|
2nd
|
2009-10
|
Olympiakos, AZ Alkmaar, Standard Liege
|
1st
|
2008-09
|
FC Porto, Fenerbahce, Dynamo Kiev
|
1st
|
2007-08
|
Sevilla, Slavia Prague, Steaua Bucharest
|
2nd
|
2006-07
|
FC Porto, CSKA Moscow, Hamburg SV
|
1st
|
As you can see from the table above, it hasn’t always been a walk in the park for Arsenal, and some dodgy results have led to them finishing second in their groups and consequently have a harder match in the round of 16. However they have always gone through with the minimum of fuss. This season could well be a different story.
Other highlights in the draw saw Real Madrid paired with Juventus in Group B in a rematch of the 1998 final, whilst Celtic will get another crack at Barcelona in Group H in a classic group that also contains seven-time European Cup winners AC Milan and Holland’s finest in Ajax.
Manchester United have some difficult away trips to Leverkusen, Donetsk and Sociedad in Group A and Manchester City have avoided some banana skin situations in Group D, although they will have to face holders Bayern Munich before Christmas.
The group stage matches begin in mid-September.
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE DRAW
Group A: Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad
Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen
Group C: Benfica, PSG, Olympiakos, Anderlecht
Group D: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen
Group E: Chelsea, Schalke 04, FC Basel, Steaua Bucharest
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli
Group G: FC Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna
Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic
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