Arsenal got two long-haul flights.
Go east, young man, and play football !
United got Celtic. Rafa got Atletico Madrid in his home town. Chelsea got Roma.
And Real Madrid’s Group H is interesting.
Group A
CHELSEA
Roma
Bordeaux
CFR Cluj of Romania
Group B
Inter Milan
Werder Bremen
Panathanikos
Anorthis Famagusta of Cyprus
Group C
Barcelona
Sporting Lisbon
Basel
Shakhtar Donetsk
Group D
LIVERPOOL
PSV Eindhoven
Marseille
Atletico Madrid
Group E
MANCHESTER UNITED
Villarreal
CELTIC
Aalborg of Denmark
Group F
Lyon
Bayern Munich
Steaua Bucharest
Fiorentina
Group G
ARSENAL
Porto
Fenerbahce
Dynamo Kiev
Group H
Real Madrid
Juventus
Zenit St Petersburg
Bate Borisov of Belarus
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Arsenal’s Champions League games are sometimes great, sometimes terrible. Occasionally, one of their matches is great AND terrible.Great nights include a 5-1 victory at Inter Milan and a 1-0 win at Real Madrid. A 3-1 win at Roma wasn’t bad.
But Arsenal are often terrible, like when they lost 4-1 at Moscow Spartak and 2-0 at Deportivo la Coruna, who also won 2-0 at Highbury.
Losing 2-1 to that Wayne Bridge goal at Highbury was an all-time bummer for thousands of Gooners. And crashing 4-2 at Anfield in last season’s quarter-final was another soul-crushing defeat.
Personally, I found the 2-2 at home to Bayern Munich to be very exciting when Arsenal took a 2-0 lead. But that finished 2-2. So that drama came into the great AND terrible category.
A thrilling 4-1 victory over Bayer Leverkusen was Arsenal at their rapier-sharp best, but then they lost twice to Deportivo.
A 1-0 win in Lyon was a really controlled performance, one of their best ever, in my view.
Sometimes I just knew they’d lose and the Second Round against Bayern in Munich was one of those. They crashed 3-1.
Arsene’s Arsenal have been close at times, but not often enough in 11 campaigns.
Losing on away goals in Valencia in 2001 was close, and being 14-minutes from improbable glory in 2006 against Barcelona was even closer.
Since Arsenal started playing in the CL in 1998, Italian and Spanish clubs have gradually become weaker and the competition is in danger of becoming the English Champions League.
We have more money and we now dominate Europe. Rafa Benitez has taken Liverpool to two finals. This year the final was between the world’s two richest clubs and Chelsea v Manchester United went to extra time and penalties before Sir Alex finally got one more European Cup than Sir Matt.
The most formidable opponent for the English clubs could be Inter Milan, now coached by Chelsea reject Jose Mourinho.
Real Madrid have not won it since 2002 and Bayern Munich have not won it since 2001. Are either of them now strong enough to give Manchester United or Chelsea a game?
In time, we shall find that out.
And we’ll find out what Arsenal can do too. But I really don’t fancy this group. Istanbul and Kiev?