While Manchester United and Chelsea will be more than satisfied with the 2011 Champions League Group Stage draw, the two other English teams Arsenal and Manchester City will be a touch on the pensive side.
Sir Alex Ferguson and his Manchester United team could not have hoped for an easier Group had they selected it themselves. Benfica, FC Basel and Otelul Galati (who?) are hardly teams that will trouble the Premier League Champions, which is why the Bookmakers make last year’s finalists the 2/7 clear favourites to win Group C. Benfica are next best but a long way behind at 4/1. The draw was also enough to see United’s Champions League Outright odds trimmed to 7/1.
Chelsea have also been dealt an excellent draw in Group E, although Valencia and Leverkusen should be respected, they should be no match for the Blues. The fourth team KRC Genk are a Belgian outfit playing in the Group Stage of the competition for the first time. The draw had a ‘slight twist in the tail’ as Chelsea’s new signing, Juan Mata will be up against Valencia, the team he has just signed from. Andre Vila Boas’ side have been installed as the 8/15 favourites to win the Group.
The difficult start to the season for Arsenal was not made much easier when Borussia Dortmund, the reigning champions of Germany were drawn from Pot 4 into Group F, along with the Gunners, Marseille and Olympiakos. Group F is already being dubbed the ‘Group of Death’ but Arsenal have at least retained some faith from the Bookmakers who make them the 5/4 favourites to win with former Champions League winners, Dortmund just behind at 2/1.
Roberto Mancini will undoubtedly relish the prospect of returning to Italy with his team Manchester City set to face Napoli in Group A. Ironically in that match, Sergio Aguero bought by City for £38m in the pre-season will be playing against the team where his Father In Law, Diego Maradona, is still worshipped after playing for them back in the 1980s. Making up Group A are the four time winners of the competition, Bayern Munich and Villarreal from Spain, both very capable and experienced teams. City are the 11/8 favourites to win the Group with Bayern close up at 7/4.
Champions Barcelona will have to contend with seven times winners AC Milan in Group H, but they will also be pleased that they have also drawn Bate Borisov from Belarus and Victoria Plzen of the Czech Republic; two relatively unknown teams.
Full Draw
For more information visit www.uefa.com
GROUP A
Bayern Munich
Villarreal
Manchester City
Napoli
GROUP B
Inter Milan
CSKA Moscow
Lille
Trabzonspor
GROUP C
Manchester United
Benfica
Basel
Otelul Galati
GROUP D
Real Madrid
Lyon
Ajax
Dynamo Zagreb
GROUP E
Chelsea
Valencia
Leverkusen
KRC Genk
GROUP F
Arsenal
Marseille
Olympiakos
Dortmund
GROUP G
Porto
Shakhtar Donetsk
Zenith St. Petersburg
Apoel
GROUP H
Barcelona
AC Milan
Bate Borisov
Victoria Plzen
The Champions League Final will be played at the Alliuanz Arena in Munich on 19 May 2012.
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