Today was the draw and here are the interesting groups:
Group A
Deportivo
Liverpool
Monaco
Olympiakos
Group B
Real Madrid
Roma
Bayer Leverkusen
Dynamo Kiev
Group C
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Ajax
Maccabi Tel-Aviv
Group D
Manchester United
Olympique Lyon
Sparta Praha
Fenerbahce
Group E
Arsenal
Panathinaikos
PSV Eindhoven
Rosenborg
Group F
Barcelona
Milan
Celtic
FC Shakhtar
Group G
Valencia
Inter
Anderlecht
Werder Bremen
Group H
Porto
Chelsea
Paris Saint Germain
Spartak Moscow
Chelsea-Porto clashes would be interesting when Chelsea boss would be looking to outsmart his previous club. Though the toughest group IMO is group A with Group F close too
All the groups look very nicely balanced. What does make Group F stand out is that those were the most in-form teams at the end of last season, and if they bring that form to the tournament, it should be great to watch.
How lucky can the english teams be? - their teams got the 4 easiest groups by far.
Juventus is the better one of Ajax and of Bayern - Bayern Munchen has not impressed me a single bit the last few years after they won it all - they didn't do much to upgrade their team over the summer either - so I'd like to see them as the weakest in their group - outside of Maccabi ofcourse - Juventus, though somewhat overrated, own a few individuals that have the ability to take over a game singlehandedly - but as a team - i don't find them very impressive - Ajax is the youngest team in the world - and their fans expected more out of their squad after it got to the Quater Finals where it gave AC Milan - the eventual winners that year - the most trouble of all the teams they faced - Either way, with an average age of 22.4 (it's under 22 when you do not count Galasek) - they have a boat load of potential - they nearly have emerging stars walking around on every position - and are a diciplined, hungry, well-coached team - Ajax finishing 2nd in their pool is hardly an upset - there's no clear cut favorite in this group - heck i can actually see all 3 winning the whole darn thing - Interesting group for sure....
My predictions:
1) Juventus
2) AFC Ajax Amsterdam
3) Bayern Munchen
4) Maccabi Tel Aviv
tomorrow the circus starts :k: