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Hello, and welcome to our liveblog of the Champions League group stages draw.
We understand that the ceremony is due to officially get underway at 16.45.
In case you need a reminder, here are the various pots the teams will be drawn in, which are based on the teams’ UEFA coefficient.
Pot 1: Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Porto.
Pot 2: Schalke, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Basel, FC Zenit, Manchester City.
Pot 3: Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiakos, CSKA Moscow, Ajax, Liverpool, Sporting Lisbon, Galatasaray, Athletic Bilbao.
Pot 4: Anderlecht, Roma, APOEL FC, BATE Borisov, Ludogorets Razgrad, NK Maribor, AS Monaco, Malmö FF.
For that and everything else you need to know about today’s draw, click here.
Charlie Nicholas’ new look is the talk of Twitter currently.
They’re currently discussing Liverpool’s hopes on Sky Sports News.
Interestingly, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink says he wouldn’t have liked to have played with Mario Balotelli because he is “unpredictable”.
The draw is underway…
Bayern Munich are in Group E, while Real Madrid are in Group B so far.
Here’s how we’re looking so far…
Group B: Real Madrid
Group C: Benfica
Group D: Arsenal
Group E: Bayern Munich
The drawing of Pot 1 teams is complete and Iker Casillas’ job here (drawing the pot 1 teams) is done…
Group A: Atletico Madrid
Group B: Real Madrid
Group C: Benfica
Group D: Arsenal
Group E: Bayern Munich
Group F: Barcelona
Group G: Chelsea
Group H: Porto
Fernando Hierro is drawing teams from Pot 2. Here’s how it looks so far…
Group A: Atletico Madrid
Group B: Real Madrid
Group C: Benfica, Zenit
Group D: Arsenal
Group E: Bayern Munich
Group F: Barcelona, PSG.
Group G: Chelsea
Group H: Porto, Shakhtar.
Pot 2 has now been completed…
Group A: Atletico Madrid, Juventus.
Group B: Real Madrid, Basel
Group C: Benfica, Zenit
Group D: Arsenal, Dortmund.
Group E: Bayern Munich, Man City.
Group F: Barcelona, PSG.
Group G: Chelsea, Schalke.
Group H: Porto, Shakhtar.
Manuel Sanchis is drawing teams from Pot 3…
Here’s how we’re looking at the halfway point of Pot 3…
Group A: Atletico Madrid, Juventus.
Group B: Real Madrid, Basel, Liverpool.
Group C: Benfica, Zenit
Group D: Arsenal, Dortmund.
Group E: Bayern Munich, Man City, CSKA.
Group F: Barcelona, PSG, Ajax.
Group G: Chelsea, Schalke.
Group H: Porto, Shakhtar, Bilbao
And thus completes Pot 3.
Group A: Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Olympiakos.
Group B: Real Madrid, Basel, Liverpool.
Group C: Benfica, Zenit, Leverkusen.
Group D: Arsenal, Dortmund, Galatasaray.
Group E: Bayern Munich, Man City, CSKA.
Group F: Barcelona, PSG, Ajax.
Group G: Chelsea, Schalke, Sporting.
Group H: Porto, Shakhtar, Bilbao
What do you make of that Liverpool fans?
Francisco Gento is the latest Real Madrid legend to draw teams from the pot…
Here’s how we’re looking…
Group A: Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Olympiakos, Malmo.
Group B: Real Madrid, Basel, Liverpool, Ludogorets Razgrad.
Group C: Benfica, Zenit, Leverkusen, Monaco.
Group D: Arsenal, Dortmund, Galatasaray.
Group E: Bayern Munich, Man City, CSKA.
Group F: Barcelona, PSG, Ajax, APOEL.
Group G: Chelsea, Schalke, Sporting.
And that’s a wrap…
Group A: Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Olympiakos, Malmo.
Group B: Real Madrid, Basel, Liverpool, Ludogorets Razgrad.
Group C: Benfica, Zenit, Leverkusen, Monaco.
Group D: Arsenal, Dortmund, Galatasaray, Anderlecht.
Group E: Bayern Munich, Man City, CSKA, Roma.
Group F: Barcelona, PSG, Ajax, APOEL.
Group G: Chelsea, Schalke, Sporting, Maribor.
Group H: Porto, Shakhtar, Bilbao, BATE Borisov.
APOEL’s Irish striker Cillian Sheridan is not daunted by Group F…
So this seems to be the initial consensus as far as the English teams’ groups are concerned…
Liverpool – not too hard.
Arsenal – tricky
Man City – hard.
Chelsea – easy enough.
Here’s a slightly fancier presentation of the groups (h/t @gavreilly)
Right, that’s all from me for now, but we’ll have more reaction on the site to come.
Thanks for reading and commenting.
