Topic: 2017/18 Champions League group stage draw. Thursday 24th August at 5pm

[Chrismonster]

My first test draw gave us Spartak & Maribor

I got the group spot on with my test draw.

[Nick110581]

Need to get some players in as squad will be stretched

[artanis]

My guess for the round of 16:

Group A: Benfica, Manchester United
Group B: Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain
Group C: Chelsea, Atlético Madrid
Group D: Juventus, Barcelona
Group E: Sevilla, Liverpool
Group F: Manchester City, Napoli
Group G: Monaco, Leipzig
Group H: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund

I agree. We will likely top our group.

We need other English sides to win their group as well. That is because we cannot draw an English side in the round of 16.

If it ends (first team group winner):

Group A: Manchester United, Benfica
Group B: Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain
Group C: Chelsea, Atlético Madrid
Group D: Juventus, Barcelona
Group E: Liverpool, Sevilla
Group F: Manchester City, Napoli
Group G: Monaco, Leipzig
Group H: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund

Then we could get: Benfica, PSG, Atletico, Barca, Napoli, Leipzig, Dortmund  (2/7 chance of a really bad draw)

If we finish second then we would get: Juventus, Bayern, Monaco or Real Madrid  (3/4 chance of very bad draw)

[Tentacles.]

GROUP A

 Benfica (POR)
 Man. United (ENG)
 Basel (SUI)
 CSKA Moskva (RUS)
GROUP B

 Bayern (GER)
 Paris (FRA)
 Anderlecht (BEL)
 Celtic (SCO)
GROUP C

 Chelsea (ENG)
 Atlético (ESP)
 Roma (ITA)
 Qarabağ (AZE)
GROUP D

 Juventus (ITA)
 Barcelona (ESP)
 Olympiacos (GRE)
 Sporting CP (POR)
GROUP E

 Spartak Moskva (RUS)
 Sevilla (ESP)
 Liverpool (ENG)
 Maribor (SVN)
GROUP F

 Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
 Man. City (ENG)
 Napoli (ITA)
 Feyenoord (NED)
GROUP G

 Monaco (FRA)
 Porto (POR)
 Beşiktaş (TUR)
 Leipzig (GER)
GROUP H

 Real Madrid (ESP)
 Dortmund (GER)
 Tottenham (ENG)
 APOEL (CYP)

[Adam_LFC]

I'd say we have an easy one but, we all know how that usually goes 

[elsewhere]

do we have a rawk member here from slovenia to give us some info about Maribor?

[mechinate]

Great group for us. Not too much travel. Some good sides, but sides we should be beating. None of them are appreciably better than Hoffenheim.

Sevilla maybe? We owe them one anyway.

[Barneylfc∗]

u wont get any,maybe for a small fortune from scalpers,Liverpool will get like 800 tickets,more or less few 100,
btw tickets will be sold only in packages,for all 3 games

do we have a rawk member here from slovenia to give us some info about Maribor?

[Qston]

Good draw. We couldn't have easily picked much better frankly. Tiny bit disappointed we didn't get one one the big boys because I just love those massive games but than can wait until the later rounds 

[Black Bull Nova]

I agree. We will likely top our group.

Then we could get: Benfica, PSG, Atletico, Barca, Napoli, Leipzig, Dortmund  (2/7 chance of a really bad draw)

If we finish second then we would get: Juventus, Bayern, Monaco or Real Madrid  (3/4 chance of very bad draw)

To be honest I'd rather play Barca than Napoli, Dortmund, Atletico or PSG

[artanis]

As a fan i'll count as many damn chickens as I want thank you very much.

right on mate!
We are Liverpool, we play great attacking football and no reason to think we are not the favorites to win the group. But some people are born to worry.
We're topping this group and getting Benfica in the round of 16!

[firing squad]

Thought you'd be watching Everton tonight mate. 

What's the chances of getting tickets in the home end for the Maribor game?

Couldn't give a shit about either Hajduk or Everton but yeah, I'll be watching on TV allright.

Although, I did go a few times to see Hajduk in Europe in recent years until I moved to Zagreb. Mostly because Euro games get a full house and awesome atmosphere.

[elsewhere]

i watched Sevilla's matches against Basaksehir, they were super lucky to go through. i will be shocked if we don't get minimum 4 points from them.

[Black Bull Nova]

do we have a rawk member here from slovenia to give us some info about Maribor?

Don't they make sweeties?

[artanis]

To be honest I'd rather play Barca than Napoli, Dortmund, Atletico or PSG

I think it's a toss-up between Bayer or Barca winning that group. I am hoping for Benfica in the round of 16!
Do we not owe them an elimination at that stage?

[pyroparty]

Please be Maribor away first, a little trip downwards to Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor and that after could be in order!

[S]

I think we could see a return to a lot of English sides in the knockouts. Hope not though.

United, City and ourselves should definitely progress from our respective groups. As long as Chelsea aren't in complete disarray they should as well. Spurs have the hardest task but I actually think it'll be very close between them and Dortmund for the second spot.

[jason67]

u wont get any,maybe for a small fortune from scalpers,Liverpool will get like 800 tickets,more or less few 100,
btw tickets will be sold only in packages,for all 3 games

Thanks for the info mate... Selling all 3 games together? Is that a normal thing they do?

[stejay007]

Post draw, our betting odds have shortened a bit, with shorter odds than Dortmund and Spurs, but still a longer shot than Chelsea and the two Manchesters.

Looks like general view is we have about a 5% chance of winning the champions league.

To be fair, both Manchester clubs have got gift draws, and have the economy of a medium sized nation to spend. Yet they always find a way to fuck it up somehow. And Chelsea are in a very tough group, surprised to see them with shorter odds considering theyve lost their spine this season.

[artanis]

do we have a rawk member here from slovenia to give us some info about Maribor?

Not from Slovenia but know enough about the quality of former Yugoslavia teams. Hajduk Split would be tougher and Everton seem to be doing fine.
Maribor in Slovenian means 6 points. I'll take that. 

[Pistolero]

People banking points before playing the games need to have a word with themselves.

indeed...

[dundeejoe]

fixtures any minute

[bendover]

Thanks for the info mate... Selling all 3 games together? Is that a normal thing they do?

yes,always,thats Maribor,95k people live here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czKI8OTlgvc

[aw1991]

do we have a rawk member here from slovenia to give us some info about Maribor?

Not from Slovenia but am from Israel so I saw them play against Beer Sheba in the play-offs. Now I'm not a Beer Sheba fan nor do I care for them in continental competitions, so I think I'm fairly obejctive when I say that Maribor are, at best, at the same level of Beer Sheba, who are weaker than last season when they had a decent European campaign. They have a decent forward but overall it will be very surprising for me if they end up anywhere but 4th. Of course this is just my impression after two matches, I'm sure Slovenian fans can provide better insight.

[Barneylfc∗]

[Barneylfc∗]

Still no sign of ours yet

[Skeeve]

Please be Maribor away first, a little trip downwards to Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor and that after could be in order!

Ideally getting Spartak away in the first set of three fixtures too would be nice, avoid the worst of the weather.

[Barneylfc∗]

Confirmed

Sevilla (H) - 13 Sep Spartak (A) - 26 Sep Maribor (A) - 17 Oct Maribor (H) - 1 Nov Sevilla (A) - 21 Nov Spartak (H) - 6 Dec

[Barneylfc∗]

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/first-team/273136-liverpool-s-champions-league-fixture-schedule-confirmed

Liverpool's Champions League fixture schedule has been confirmed.

The Reds will kick off the group stage with a home tie against Sevilla on Wednesday September 13.

Jürgen Klopp’s side are then set to travel to Spartak Moscow and Maribor on Tuesday September 26 and Tuesday October 17 respectively.

The return meeting with Maribor at Anfield will take place on Wednesday November 1.

Liverpool will journey to Sevilla on Tuesday November 21 before wrapping up their Group E commitments at home to Spartak on Wednesday December 6.

[bendover]

Not from Slovenia but know enough about the quality of former Yugoslavia teams. Hajduk Split would be tougher and Everton seem to be doing fine.

haha,yeah,sure,whatever

[WanderingRed]

[jepovic]

Using the logic from previous season, where we were fantastic against the top teams but struggled with the worst ones, this was a disastrous draw 

[Thepooloflife]

Please be Maribor away first, a little trip downwards to Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor and that after could be in order!

I like you're thinking mate ! Don't know what the weather in October will be like now though......may still be decent ?

[FernandoTourettes]

Confirmed

Sevilla (H) - 13 Sep Spartak (A) - 26 Sep Maribor (A) - 17 Oct Maribor (H) - 1 Nov Sevilla (A) - 21 Nov Spartak (H) - 6 Dec

Important to get off to a good start at home to the toughest team in the group.
And great to end at home too if for whatever reason, we need a result positive result to end get through or end up top. Today's been going well so far.

[alvaro]

For me getting Spartak Moscow in September is a good because playing there in December would have not been too nice.

[luckyluke]

Would have preferred Sevilla (A) first but at least it's them in the first round. A win would set us up nicely there.

[quinny]

Start and end at home, away in Moscow in September - sound.

[liverpoolsnumber9]

Start and end at home, away in Moscow in September - sound.

the mancs in Moscow 27th sept !!   ...  UEFA ....

[CallumLFC]

Important to get off to a good start at home to the toughest team in the group.
And great to end at home too if for whatever reason, we need a result positive result to end get through or end up top. Today's been going well so far.

Maribor back to back in the middle to get a quick 6 points.

Nice.

[harleydanger]

Here's a photo of Marobor's stadium