Champions League Group Draw - G & H

This is last installment of my Champions League Group Draw Review.  With matches set to begin tomorrow, we take a closer look at the final two groups. 

Group G
FC Unirea Urziceni
VfB Stuttgart
Rangers FC
Sevilla FC

While Sevilla will like their chances of advancing from a relatively weak group, I think this group will be a lot tighter than most people think.  Sevilla is the team to beat and have every reason to feel confident going into the group matches.  Led in attack by Brazilian ace Luis Fabiano (heavily linked with both AC Milan and Manchester United this summer), Sevilla has fire power in front of goal and has already began the Spanish season with style.


One team that is no stranger to Champions League ups and downs is VfB Stuttgart.  The consistent German outfit has qualified for the group stages and even looked dangerous numerous times.  Nevertheless, VfB have always had a knack for not getting a result and missing out in the later stages.  VfB started their season with the loss of Mario Gomez to Bayern but welcome Pavel Pogrebnyak from FC Zenit.  Far more importantly for the German side is the return on loan from FC Barcelona of former star Alexander Hleb.  The Belarusian, one of my personal favorites during his spell at Arsenal, will bring creativity and attacking flair to the side.  I was sad to see him leave Arsenal and he really never settled in with Barcelona.  Hleb turned down a move to Inter and decided to return to Stuttgart, making VfB a dangerous, yet inconsistent foe.

One team that already turned heads across the continent by merely qualifying for the group stages is FC Unirea Urziceni.  The Romania Champions knocked out perennial group stage participants Steaua Bucharest to qualify for the group stage.  Urziceni has only been in the Romanian top flight for 3 seasons and shockingly won their first league crown last year despite being the most under-funded and frugal team in Romania.  FC Unirea Urziceni looks to continue their fairy tale run and rest assured no one is looking forward to the daunting trip to south east Romania to take on UC Unirea. 

Last but not certainly least is Scottish Champions and Glasgow giants Rangers.  After sealing the Scottish Championship on the last day of the season last year in dramatic fashion, Rangers look to build on their success with a run to the knockout stages.  Despite the unceremonious departure of former captain Kris Boyd, Rangers have the personnel and support to grind out second in the group.  Rangers also have two exciting American players in DeMarcus Beasely and Maurice Edu.   With the support of the Ibrox crowd behind them, anything is possible for the Glasgow club. 

Sevilla is still the team to beat though and I think Fabiano will fire them to top of the group with Rangers shocking VfB to take second. 

Group H
Arsenal FC
Olympiacos FC
AZ Alkmaar
R Standard de Liege

Last but certainly not least is Group H.  I must say I was extremely nervous during the Champions League draw and prayed that Arsenal would have an easy group.  Needless to say my prayers were answered and the Gunners could not have asked for a better draw.  No offense to the other teams in the group, Arsenal are simply a class above them and should have no trouble progressing through the group.  Despite facing a tricky trip to Greece, there is no reason Arsenal shouldn’t have this group wrapped up with 1 or 2 games to spare. 

The real battle will be for runner up spot and Olympiacos have every reason to believe they can progress to the knockout stages.  Sporting the likes of Matt Derbyshire and Raul Bravo, the Piraeus based club is the most supported team in Greece and have twice made the quarterfinals of the Champions League.  Olympiacos enjoys a formidable home record and play an open attacking style football that makes their games fun to watch.  I think the Greek outfit will eek out second place. 

AZ Alkmaar shocked the established order of the Dutch league last year by securing their second ever league title.  Ajax, PSV, and Feyernoord were left in the dust as Alkmaar secured the title breaking Ajax/PSV/Feyenoord’s record 28 season run of keeping the title amongst the three traditional powerhouses.  Dutch legend Ronald Koeman succeed Louis van Gaal this season after van Gaal left for Munich.  Although Alkmaar is a strong team, I don’t think they can win in Greece and Koeman will not be able to replicate the free flowing football played under van Gaal. 

The group is rounded off by Belgian Champions Standard Liege.  The ten time Belgian Champs (two-time defending as well) will have a hard time advancing to the knockout stages.  They don’t have a deep squad and will need to pull off a string of impressive results to advance.  Losing American defender Oguchi Onyew to Milan in the off-season hurt but Standard was able to hold on to prized midfielder and captain Steven Defour.  The Belgian international and last season’s most valuable player attracted interest from all over Europe (including Arsenal) but decided to stay in Liege one more season.  Nevertheless, Standard Liege will finish bottom of the group with Arsenal and Olympiacos advancing to the knockout stage. 

That’s it for this edition of the Fodder, stay tuned for my nightmare recap of Arsenal’s double despair in Manchester.