The Swamp

The group stage draw for the UEFA Champions League takes place in about a half hour. Here are the pots:

Pot 1: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Lokomotiv Moscow

Pot 2: Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli, Tottenham Hotspur, Roma

Pot 3: Liverpool, Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, Ajax, CSKA Moscow, PSV Eindhoven, Valencia

Pot 4: Viktoria Plzen, Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Young Boys, Inter Milan, Hoffenheim, Red Star Belgrade, AEK Athens

I feel sorry for whichever group gets Liverpool. If Klopp and the Liverpool front office take the CL seriously, they could cause some serious damage.

Please Lokomotiv, please!

Meh, nobody cares about Champions League anymore.

Pruitt wrote: ↑Thu Aug 30, 2018 11:01 am Please Lokomotiv, please!

I expected you to say, "Come on Young Boys."

Purely from an entertainment perspective, would love to see a group of Barca/Dortmund/Liverpool/Inter.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Thu Aug 30, 2018 11:18 am

Pruitt wrote: ↑Thu Aug 30, 2018 11:01 am Please Lokomotiv, please!

I expected you to say, "Come on Young Boys."

One of my college roommates was so good at FIFA 2003 that he would crush any of us if he played with a remotely decent team. He used to play as Young Boys all the time both because they have a ridiculous name and because they were one of the worst teams in the game. So I got a kick out of seeing that they’re actually in the Champions League now.

The draw isn't complete, but Cristiano Ronaldo gets to play at Old Trafford again.

Here's the draw:

A: Atletico Madrid, Dortmund, Monaco, Club Brugge

B: Barcelona, Spurs, PSV Eindhoven, Inter Milan (rough group for Spurs)

C: PSG, Napoli, Liverpool, Red Star Belgrade

D: Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto, Schalke, Galatasaray (wow, what a joke of a group!)

E: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax, AEK Athens

F: Man City, Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, Hoffenheim

G: Real Madrid, Roma, CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen

H: Juventus, Man U, Valencia, Young Boys

Best part was the galatasaray contingent celebrating their group draw

Here are my "no time to dwell on this" thoughts:

A: Pulisic and company will have a tough time getting out of this group, especially with Dortmund basically in a rebuilding year.

B: Spurs got fucked. Hard. Expect Inter Milan to be super motivated to payback Spurs for the "Taxi for Maicon!" match.

C: Brutal group for Liverpool. I can see them not getting out of this group, especially if they can't dominate RS Belgrade. From what I've seen, playing Eastern European teams on the road is difficult for EPL teams.

D: Schalke should advance. Don't know if they will, but they should.

E: The only thing missing from this group for Bayern Munich is a bow and gift wrapping.

F: The only thing missing from this group for Man City is a bow and gift wrapping.

G: God, I hate Real Madrid.

H: I wonder if the Man U hosting Juventus game will be on TV ...

Sabo wrote: ↑Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:18 pm H: I wonder if the Man U hosting Juventus game will be on TV ...

I wonder if Tim Howard will clean up his beard before going on TV before it.

First time Liverpool have played Red Star Belgrade since 1973, days of Keegan & Toshack

Sabo wrote: ↑Thu Aug 30, 2018 12:18 pm Here are my "no time to dwell on this" thoughts:

A: Pulisic and company will have a tough time getting out of this group, especially with Dortmund basically in a rebuilding year.

B: Spurs got fucked. Hard. Expect Inter Milan to be super motivated to payback Spurs for the "Taxi for Maicon!" match.

C: Brutal group for Liverpool. I can see them not getting out of this group, especially if they can't dominate RS Belgrade. From what I've seen, playing Eastern European teams on the road is difficult for EPL teams.

D: Schalke should advance. Don't know if they will, but they should.

E: The only thing missing from this group for Bayern Munich is a bow and gift wrapping.

F: The only thing missing from this group for Man City is a bow and gift wrapping.

G: God, I hate Real Madrid.

H: I wonder if the Man U hosting Juventus game will be on TV ...

Did the Qataris blow the Uefa board? And how the hell is Inter in pot 4?

God damnit.