Champions' League group stages

[Closed Account 2]

Here are the possible knock out draws for each club:

Roma can play: Sporting L, Atletico, Villareal, Lyon, Arsenal, Real Mad,
Panathin. can play: Chelsea, Sporting L, Atletico, Villareal, Lyon, Arsenal, Real Mad,
Barca can play: Chelsea, Inter, Lyon, Arsenal,
Liverpool can play: Inter, Sporting L, Villareal, Lyon, Real Mad,
Man Utd can play: Inter, Sporting L, Atletico, Lyon, Real Mad,
Bayern can play: Chelsea, Inter, Sporting L, Atletico, Villareal, Arsenal, Real Mad,
Porto can play: Chelsea, Inter, Atletico, Villareal, Lyon, Real Mad,
Juventus can play: Chelsea, Sporting L, Atletico, Villareal, Lyon, Arsenal,
Chelsea can play: Panathin., Barca, Bayern, Porto, Juventus,
Inter can play: Barca, Liverpool, Man Utd, Bayern, Porto,
Sporting L can play: Roma, Panathin., Liverpool, Man Utd, Bayern, Juventus,
Atletico can play: Roma, Panathin., Man Utd, Bayern, Porto, Juventus,
Villareal can play: Roma, Panathin., Liverpool, Bayern, Porto, Juventus,
Lyon can play: Roma, Panathin., Barca, Liverpool, Man Utd, Porto, Juventus,
Arsenal can play: Roma, Panathin., Barca, Bayern, Juventus,
Real Madrid can play: Roma, Panathin., Liverpool, Man Utd, Bayern, Porto,

As all 4 English and 4 Spanish teams went through to the knock outs, the potential opposition is reduced for them. The English were split 2 gp winners, 2 runner up, meaning each team has 5 potential opponenets, the Spanish were split 1 gp winner, 3 runner up so this means Barca (the only Spanish gp winner) can only be drawn against 4 teams (Chelsea, Inter, Lyon & Arsenal).

Unless Panathinikos and Sporting draw each other (a la Sevilla and Fenerbache last season) you are going to be left with a pretty strong field by the time of the quarters. I'd say you might get good odds on Atletico and Villareal getting to the next round, assuming they don't draw Man Utd and Liverpool respectivly they should be more than a match for the other potential opposition. You also might get good odds on Barca not making it through to the next round, strong as they are Chelsea, Inter, Arsenal and even Lyons could cause them problems - a very harsh draw for Barca.

[HarpoJoyce]

(Apologies if this was noted by other posters already)

Champions League Final will be held on Saturday's from 2010. It was noted during a UEFA Exec. Comm. meeting. But I don't know when that decision was made.
http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/k...id=786278.html

"Women's Cup changes
...... with the final taking place over one leg, on the Thursday prior to the UEFA Champions League final – which will be played on Saturdays from 2010. The final will be staged in the same city, but in a different stadium. ..... "

Other stuff decided too.

[Closed Account 2]

Yeah they want to make it more of an "event", so in Madrid in 2010 it will be on a Sat instead of a Wed...

*cough* honestly it's not a ploy to bring kick off time forward for the far eastern tv market*cough*

[HarpoJoyce]

Yeah they want to make it more of an "event", so in Madrid in 2010 it will be on a Sat instead of a Wed...

*cough* honestly it's not a ploy to bring kick off time forward for the far eastern tv market*cough*

The earlier ko time would be welcomed by locals and ex-pats, anything +4hrs east of CET.