There should be a pretty interning UEFA Champions League campaign ahead for the four English sides getting in on the action this season. Leicester, Man City, Arsenal and Tottenham are representing the Premier League in this season’s affair and on Thursday the draw was made with Manchester City landing themselves in the highlight group where Pep Guardiola will get re-united with Barcelona. Scottish champions Celtic join them in the group as well along with Borussia Monchengladbach.
Leicester, after their surprise Premier League title last season got a much more favourable draw as they go into action against Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen. This is new territory for the Foxes of course and while Porto will be a threat in the group, Brugge and Copenhagen are really lacking Champions League experience lately as well, so the Foxes may well have a great chance to mix things up and qualify from their section. Leicester managed to avoid Atletico Madrid and PSV Eindhoven in the draw.
Tottenham are back in the mix for the first time in six seasons and they have to take on CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco. It looks like a pretty manageable group for the Lilywhites who will be playing their home games at Wembley this season in the competition because of construction at White Hart Lane. Arsenal can be fairly pleased with their UEFA Champions League draw having been pulled out alongside Basel, Ludogorets and their toughest challengers in the group, French champions PSG.
But it is the big prospect of Manchester City and Barcelona going head to head in the group stage which is really the highlight of the draw. How will Pep Guardiola get on against his former club? There are a couple of other big clashes around the group stage draw with Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid paired together in Group D while Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund will square off in Group F. We take a look at some of the early betting options for the UEFA Champions League Groups Draw 2016
Group A: Paris St-Germain (France), Arsenal (England), Basel (Switzerland), Ludogorets (Bulgaria).
Not too bad a draw here for the Gunners as they will be expected to qualify from this fairly routinely. There are easy matches against Basel and Ludogorets to come for the North London outfit and their only big battles will come against PSG who of course don’t have Zlatan Ibrahimovic prowling around any more. Good news for the Gunners there, but the French champions are running as 8/11 favourite to win Group A with online betting site Bet365 leaving Arsenal as 13/8 second favorites to top the pile.
Prediction: PSG, Arsenal
Group B: Benfica (Portugal), Napoli (Italy), Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine), Besiktas (Turkey).
There is always at least one understated group that will fly under the radar a bit in the group stage and this is it. This isn’t likely to be an explosive group because there are tricky away games for all of these in this group, with even the favorites Benfica and Napoli having to go to the Ukraine and Turkey. Italian outfit Napoli should be strong enough to work their way through the group stage efficient enough and they have the gaols in them to cause a lot of problems. Enough to top the group.
Prediction: Napoli, Benfica
Group C: Barcelona (Spain), Manchester City (England), Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany), Celtic (Scotland).
This is the ‘Hollywood’ group of the UEFA Champions League draw without a doubt. Barcelona get to face up against Pep Guardiola’s Man City for the third time in the last four seasons and they are 2/5 odds on favourites to win the group ahead of Man City who are at 11/4. Barcelona are still expected to come out on top with Bet365 offering 1/2 on Man City taking 2 points or fewer from the two meetings with the Catalans. Guardiola is at City for a stronger Champions League campaign but once again the gods of the draw haven’t been that kind to the Premier League outfit. Celtic, given their struggles through qualification may find the going tough while Monchengladbach aren’t too likely to make a massive impression. They will likely battle Celtic for the UEFA League spot.
Prediction: Barcelona, Man City
Group D: Bayern Munich (Germany), Atletico Madrid (Spain), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Rostov (Russia).
Little doubt about the two favoured to get through this group into the knockout stage of the competition. That will be Bayern Munich who are running at 4/9 to top the section, with last season’s losing finalists, Atletico Madrid at 2/1. The two games between those two is likely to be the deciders in the group, with PSC and debutants Rostov pretty much just making up the numbers. Despite losing Guardiola, Bayern still look a very strong outfit with a powerful squad and should be able to top the pile.
Prediction: Bayern, Atletico
Group E: CSKA Moscow (Russia), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Tottenham (England), Monaco (France).
Here come Tottenham then and they are a trading at 11/10 to take the group win. There are some tricky games in there for the Lilywhites but overall they can’t be disappointed by this draw whatsoever. CSKA Moscow and Monaco are beatable while Bayer Leverkusen as solid a they were last season, may not have the goals in them to really make a huge impact. Spurs should be able to get through this group on their home form alone, while the Germans may follow them through.
Prediction: Tottenham, Bayer Leverkusen
Group F: Real Madrid (Spain), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Legia Warsaw (Poland).
A huge clash between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund is going to go down in this one. Along wit the Man City group, this should be a cracker. Real Madrid are a little vulnerable on the road in Germany so Dortmund will have a chance in this one. They Germans are 2/1 to win the group against the 1/2 on Real Madrid. These two were came together in the 2013/14 competition and both took respective home wins. In the last six meetings between the two, Dortmund have won their three home games, Real Madrid two of them (D1).
Prediction: Dortmund, Real Madrid
Group G: Leicester City (England), Porto (Portugal), Club Brugge (Belgium), FC Copenhagen (Denmark).
So here come Leicester in their UEFA Champions League debut. What an occasion for them and they will be happy with the draw although they are lacking the big fixture against a heavyweight. That may come in the knockout stage though. Leicester are actually 11/8 second favourites to win the group behind the 5/4 price on Porto. It should come down to a shootout between those two for the qualification spots because Brugge haven’t been here since the 2005/06 season while Copenhagen are one of the lower ranked clubs to make it to this stage. Good chance for Leicester but you would probably still lean towards the value of Porto, with their experience, getting top spot.
Prediction: Porto, Leicester
Group H: Juventus (Italy), Sevilla (Spain), Lyon (France), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia).
It may not be too hard to delineate what is going to play itself out in this group. You have Juventus, who despite losing Paul Pogba, spent a lot of money on Gonzalo Higuain to bring them the goals that they need as a true poacher. The Italians should still be strong enough to march their way to success in this group. Sevilla, after winning the UEFA Europa League again, are back for a crack at the UEFA Champions League group stage. They are a tough side to crack on home soil, but the vulnerabilities may be there out on the road from them. Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb probably won’t be up to much.
Prediction: Juventus, Sevilla
Key dates
- 13-14 September – First round of group matches
- 6-7 December – Final round of group matches
- 14-15/21-22 February – Round of 16, first leg
- 7-8/14-15 March – Round of 16, second leg
- 11-12 April – Quarter-finals, first leg
- 18-19 April – Quarter-finals, second leg
- 2-3 May – Semi-finals, first leg
- 9-10 May – Semi-finals, second leg
- 3 June – Final (Cardiff)
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