Uefa Champions League group stage draw 2015-16 as it happened
After four rounds of preliminary qualifiers and play-offs, the Champions League group stage draw is almost upon us. 32 teams from across the continent will learn their fate within the next hour or so and will have it all covered right here.
And that's it! The group stage draw is done and dusted.
Group A – Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Malmo
Group B – PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, CKSA Moscow, Wolfsburg
Group C – Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray, Astana
Group D – Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla, Borussia Monchengladbach
Group E – Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma, BATE Borisov
Group F – Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Olympiakos, Dinamo Zagreb
Group G – Chelsea, Porto, Dynamo Kiev, Maccabi Tel Aviv
Group H – Zenit St Petersburg, Valencia, Lyon, Gent
That's Pot 3 dealt with, then. Here's how it stands.
Group A – Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk
Group B – PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, CKSA Moscow
Group C – Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray
Group D – Juventus, Manchester City, Sevilla
Group E – Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma
Group F – Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Olympiakos
Group G – Chelsea, Porto, Dynamo Kiev
Group H – Zenit St Petersburg, Valencia, Lyon
So, that's Chelsea in the same group as Jose Mourinho's former club Porto and Manchester United against Memphis Depay's former club PSV Eindhoven. Manchester City's history of tough draws has shown no signs of changing, they've been paired with 2015 runners up Juventus. Arsenal has the small matter of clashes with Bayern Munich.
Two pots down, two more to go. Here's how it stands at the minute.
Group A – Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid
Group B – PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United
Group C – Benfica, Atletico Madrid
Group D – Juventus, Manchester City
Group E – Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen
Group F – Bayern Munich, Arsenal
Group G – Chelsea, Porto
Group H – Zenit St Petersburg, Valencia
Pot 1 has been drawn and here's how it looks.
Group A – Paris Saint-Germain
Group B – PSV Eindhoven
Group C – Benfica,
Group D – Juventus,
Group E – Barcelona
Group F – Bayern Munich,
Group G – Chelsea,
Group H – Zenit St Petersburg
Teaches absolutely nothing, mind. Pot 2 is where is gets interesting.
The prospect of a Group of Death is a very realistic one for any of the four Premier League sides. There is real depth across the third and fourth pots with Sevilla, Roma and Lyon among those lying in wait in Pot 3. Bundesliga sides Borussia Monchengladbach and Wolfsburg are the two to avoid in Pot four.
Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United all take a spot in Pot 2, leaving each of them with the prospect of being drawn into the same group with Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus or Paris Saint Germain. Benfica, Zenit St Petersburg and PSV Eindhoven represent the more favourable Pot 1 options for the Premier League trio.
Pot 1: Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern München, Juventus, Benfica, Paris, Zenit, PSV Eindhoven
Pot 2: Real Madrid, Atlético, Porto, Arsenal, Man United, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Man City
Pot 3: Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, Lyon, Dynamo Kyiv, Olympiacos, CSKA Moskva, Galatasaray, Roma
Pot 4: BATE Borisov,Borussia Mönchengladbach, Wolfsburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Gent, Malmö, Astana
10 of the 32 sides in this afternoon's draw sealed their place via a play-off this week. Manchester United, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen were among those to confirm their places, with Louis van Gaal leading his side back into Europe's elite competition after a 7-1 aggregate victory over Club Brugge of Belgium.
Valencia meanwhile dismissed Monaco, who eliminated Arsenal at the last 16 stage of the competition last season. In another first this year, they are won of five teams in the group stage draw alongside Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Europa League champions Sevilla.
Monaco, Sporting Lisbon, Lazio and Celtic are among the big names to have failed to reach this stage.
The 4 pots for this afternoon's draw will determine who draws who. For the first time in the competition's history, Pot 1 will consist of the competition's current holders and the champions of the top seven associations. As Barcelona enter as both European and Spanish champions, the extra spot in Pot 1 goes to Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven.
The rest of the potshave been determined by the club's Uefa coefficient, which is calculated by the sum of all points won in the previous five years, plus 20% of their association's coefficient over the same period.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.
