UEFA Champions League 2012 Draw

All the eyes were on the beautiful city of Monaco as some of the biggest names in the world of football gathered to unleash the draw of the biggest club competition in the world - The UEFA Champions League! The fate of all the clubs depended on 4 pots. The teams were divided into 4 groups according to their seeds. The first seeded teams were allotted pot 1, second seeded teams with pot 2, third seeded teams with pot 3 & fourth seeded teams with pot 4. Here were the 4 groups according to their seeds:-

Pot 1 - Chelsea, Barcelona, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Porto and AC Milan

Pot 2 - Valencia, Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit-St. Petersburg, Schalke, Manchester City, Braga and

Dynamo Kiev

Pot 3 - Olympiakos, Ajax, Anderlecht, Juventus, Spartak Moscow, PSG, Lille & Galatasaray

Pot 4 - Borussia Dortmund, Celtic, BATE Borisov, Dinamo Zagreb, CFR 1907 Cluj, Malaga, Montpellier and Nordsjaelland

One chit per pot had to be picked every time. All the four chits picked would form a group.

The groups were picked as follows:-

Group A: Porto - Dynamo Kiev - PSG - Dinamo Zagreb

Group B: Arsenal - Schalke - Olympiacos - Montpellier

Group C: AC Milan - Zenit St. Petersburg - Anderlecht - Malaga

Group D: Real Madrid - Manchester City - Ajax - Borussia Dortmund

Group E: Chelsea - Shakhtar Donetsk - Juventus - Nodsjaelland

Group F: Bayern Munich - Valencia - Lille - BATE Borisav

Group G: Barcelona - Benfica - Spartak Moscow - Celtic

Group H: Manchester United - Braga - Galatasaray - Cluj

Here is an analyses of all the groups and what to expect from each group:

Group A: This group contains the likes of Portuguese champions Porto and French Power-house PSG. The other teams that complete the group are Ukraine's Dynamo Kiev and Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb.

Prediction - Porto and PSG are expected to clear the group without much difficulty

Group B: England's Arsenal have been drawn into the group along with Germany's Schalke, Greek champions Olympiacos and French champions Montpellier. Interestingly, Arsenal and Olympiacos have been drawn in the same group for the third time in four years.

Prediction - Arsenal and Schalke are expected to clear the group. But both the other competitors are more then capable of producing an upset. Montpellier, in particular can give both Arsenal and Schalke, a run for their money.

Group C: Serie-A runners-up AC Milan have made it to the group along with Russian power-house Zenit, Belgian champions Anderlecht & Spanish club Malaga.

Prediction - AC Milan are the firm favorites to clear the group as toppers while Zenit, Anderlecht and Malaga are all capable of making it to the knock-out stages. Expect a stiff competition for the 2nd place.

Group D: This is the group of death to say the least. All the teams in the group are the champions of their respective countries. La Liga champions Real Madrid, English champions Manchester City, Dutch Eredivisie winners Ajax & Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund have made it to the group. This is the first time in the history of Champions League that all the teams in a group are champions of their country.

Prediction - No prediction is relevant here. All the clubs know what it takes to win. All the matches of this group will be mouth-watering clashes. Looking forward to see this group in action.

Group E: Defending champions Chelsea have been drawn in this group. The other teams to make to the group are Italy champions Juventus, Ukraine champions Shakhtar Donetsk and Danish Superliga winners Nodsjaelland.

Prediction - Chelsea & Juventus are expected to clear the group easily, Shakhtar Donsetsk can cause some problems though. This will be a fight for topping the table rather then surviving one.

Group F: Last year's runners-up & German giants Bayern Munich have made it to the group. The other teams are Spainsh side Valencia, French club Lille and Belarusian champions BATE Barisov.

Prediction - Bayern Munich are the firm favorites to top the group. The other team expected to make it to the knock-out stage is Valencia, Lille would give a tough fight to the Spanish club though.

Group G: The group contains last year's semi-finalists Barcelona. The other teams to make it to the group are Portuguese giants Benfica, Russia's Spartak Moscow and Scottish champions Celtic.

Prediction - Barcelona should top the group quite easily, followed by Benfica in the second place. Spartak Moscow & Celtic would have everything to play for and thus are capable of securing some unexpected results.

Group H: 2011 runners-up Manchester United have been drawn into the group along with Portugal's Braga, Turkish champions Galatasaray and Romanian champions Cluj.

Prediction - Manchester United are expected to top the group easily, subject to some surprises like last year. This group will be more of a fight for second place with Braga as well as Galatasaray fancying their chances.

The only thing left to add to the excitement of Champions League is the kick-off of the prestigious tournament. The star studded event is scheduled to start on the 18th of September.

Will Chelsea retain it or will Barcelona win it? Will Bayern come back strongly or will it be Unted's year? Will Madrid claim it or will Mancity stamp their supremacy?

All your questions will be answered, come 18th of September. Till then keep waiting and enjoy footbal!  

Are you listening Persie?

The 2006 world cup was on the cards. The world was looking forward to a whole new footballing spectacle and so was I. As a 12 year old, I as many,  knew football by Brazil and Brazil by football. I did not know a single thing about the beautiful game before, but was looking forward to see the mighty Brazilians play. And the much anticipated tournament started!

After seeing Brazil through to the quarters, I was fairly happy and satisfied by my 'adopted' nation's performance. Brazil had to play a much less fancied France side in the quarters, who were deemed as not more than a small obstacle for the defending champs. But to my surprise and disappointment, against all odds,  France sent Brazil packing out of the cup. And the goal scorer was none other than 'Thierry Henry'. The Arsenal forward who was little unknown those days, at least to me. I being a neutral, soon forgot Brazil and started admiring Zidane and Co. After seeing my team through to the finals, my heart was broken again as the Les Bleus lost to Cannavaro's Italy in the finals.

The WC memories soon faded away but one name still was well in my thoughts, 'Thierry Henry'. I just couldn't forget this name. I had fallen in love with Henry and his footballing skills. And this was the turning point in my life. I started loving football then anything. I today very proudly say that, it was Henry who made 

me love football.

I had heard of the English Premier League but did not follow it before. For the sake of knowing Henry's club, I just googled the words "Thierry Henry's club" and the name I found was "ARSENAL FC". Now what is Arsenal I thought. So I found out the club's site and gazed through it but couldn't get anything. So I turned my TV on and ran through some sports channels, and to much of my pleasant surprise, I saw Henry playing in a red-white t-shirt with O2 written on it. And suddenly it clicked in my mind, it was Arsenal in action. Again, I was introduced to Arsenal, through Henry. And yes, as a proud follower of Henry, I started watching Arsenal games.

Match Report: Spain 4-0 Italy

Spain created history by becoming the first nation to successfully defend its European Championship crown. The La Roja also went into the record books by becoming the first nation to score 3 or more goals in an international competition finale.

2 goals in each half were enough for Del Bosque and his men to send a clueless Italy crashing out. David Silva opened the scoring as Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres & Juan Mata all netted for the La Roja.

Del Bosque brought Fabregas back into the attack to replace Negredo as Torres was overlooked again. Prandelli too made one change to his starting 11, with Ignazio Abate recovering from his hamstring injury to replace an in-form Federico Balzeretti at right back.

Min 1-14: It took no time for Spain to settle as they started of with a series of dangerous attacks. Firstly, a Sergio Ramos free-kick from distance and then his well headed effort, both fizz passed over the Italian bar. 

Then, Xavi's crashing attempt went well off target, after a brilliant one-two with Fabregas opened him.

Match Report: Italy 2-1 Germany

Super Mario rips apart a humbled Germany

Mario Balotelli fetched the headlines for all the 'right' reasons as his 1st half brace was enough for the Azurri to defeat a below par Germany side. Mesut Ozil how ever got a consolation for his side as he converted from the spot.

Germany brought Mario Gomez & Lukas Podolski back into the squad as the two were benched in their quarter final tie with Greece. Toni Kroos got his first start of the tournament as Thomas Muller was overlooked. Italy on the other hand made only one change, bringing in Giorgio Chiellini to replace Ignazio Abate as the former fully recovered from his injury.

Min 1-6: Both sides got of to a cautious start!

Match Report: Spain 0-0 Portugal (4-2 Penalties)

Casillas the savior as Spain survive the Portuguese scare.

Cesc Fabregas netted the winning goal from the spot after Bruno Alves failed to score as La Roja emerge victorious in an all Iberian tie to book their place into the final of UEFA Euro 2012

       

Spain's team shit sprung a surprise as Sevilla's young striker Alvaro Negredo found his place in the starting 11 from nowhere as Del Bosque decided to bench both Fabregas and Farnendo Torres. On the other hand, Portugal manager Paulo Bento had to bring in Hugo Almeida to replace their injured striker Helder Postiga.

Match Report: Italy 0-0 England (4-2 Penalties)

Super Mario's super misses don't matter as the 2 Ashleys of England miss penalties.

Andrea Pirlo was the hero for the Azzurri as he lead his team to the semi-finals. Italy scored 4 of 5 penalties as England's Ashley Cole and Ashley Young missed from the spot to hand it over to the Azzuri after a goalless 120 minutes of play.

Match Report: Spain 2-0 France

A Xabi Alosno brace was enough for Spain to send listless Les Bleus crashing out of Euro 2012. 

Cesc Febregas was selected over Fernando Torres as the latter did not impress in the game against Croatia and the rumored infighting in the French camp gathered more momentum as Samir Nasri was surprisingly benched in the game.