Was able to watch the draw live at work during lunch. It was the first time I saw the draw live. They have a pretty cool setup with teams names and groups in champions league mini balls that they have various people randomly pick. The also presented the player of the year for last season and Franck Ribery beat out Messi and Ronaldo. Anyway here are the groups (teams listed in order of their draw): Group A: Manchester United Shakhtar Donetsk Leverkusen Real Sociedad Moving On: Shakhtar Donetsk and Leverkusen. Manchester United in 3rd Group B: Real Madrid Juventus Galatasaray Kobenhaven Moving on: Real Madrid and Juventus. Galatasaray in 3rd Group C: Benfica PSG Olympiacos Anderlecht Moving on: PSG and Benfica. Anderlecht in 3rd Group D: Bayern Munich CSKA Moskva Manchester City Viktoria Plzen Moving on: Bayern Munich and Manchester City. CSKA Moskva in 3rd Group E: Chelsea Schalke Basel Steaua Bucharest Moving on: Chelsea and Basel. Schalke in 3rd Group F: Arsenal Marseille Borussia Dortmund Napoli Moving on: Borussia Dortmund and Napoli. Arsenal in 3rd Group G: Porto Atletico Madrid Zenit Austria Wein Moving on: Atletico Madrid and Zenit. Porto in 3rd Group H: Barcelona Milan Ajax Celtic Moving on: Barcelona and Milan. Ajax in 3rd
I didn't think I'd see another bullsh!t penalty call as bad as the one Madrid got vs Getafe last week thanks to Pepe but wow Ajax got jobbed by the ref today! Balotelli and Pepe can share the disgusting cheat of the month honors.
Man City vs Bayern is a big test for City. IMO, they aren't quite at Bayern's level yet, their defense needs work. But it will be a close game.
I was also pretty angry (even as a Feyenoord fan). Balotelli already had a couple of schwalbes during the game. And Cillesen got the ball without problems, so even if Balotelli didn't fall down he could not get to the ball.
Yeah, I was quite annoyed about that foul as well. Van der Hoorn grabbed the shirt and Mario took advantage, big time. Tussles like that happen all the time, majorly robbed. Though I guess the defender gave the ref a reason to blow the whistle by grabbing the shirt right in front of the official...
Juventus probably played the worst game I've ever seen them play. Barzagli & Bonucci are an embarrassment to Italian defense. RMA is going to destroy us if there's no adjustments.
PSG had the game won by the 40th minute. Just totally destroyed Benfica. Real Sociedad has been my dark horse and would have won a valuable point if weren't for that last free kick goal by Leverkusen. Even though the keeper could see Hegeler's shot coming a mile away there wasn't a thing he could do to stop it.
Manchester City 1-3 Bayern Munich: Pep Guardiola's side produce attacking masterclass to leave Etihad stunned The Blues were thoroughly outclassed as the Champions League holders romped to a win even more convincing than the scoreline suggests Certainly ignore the last 10 minutes. Bayern had already declared by then. But remember the chaos caused by Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery, a defensive debacle caused by a tactical disaster. Do not forget the utter disarray as Munich took City to the cleaners. And if you are Roy Hodgson, have a look at the tape of Joe Hart's latest horror night - and wonder if you shouldn't consider playing anybody else against Montenegro and Poland? Last night, in an 80-minute masterclass in passing, movement, thrust and penetration, Manuel Pellegrini saw his side broken into tiny pieces. Roberto Mancini was sacked because he could not get the Blues through the group stage. Pellegrini, "The Engineer", was hired to build something better. This though, was less a house of bricks. More one of expensively-acquired straw. One huff, one puff, and it all fell down. Yes, Bayern are the holders. They were the best team in Europe even before Pep Guardiola added his special brand of magic. They could become the first team to retain the Champions League. But long before Alvaro Negredo finally gave the City fans something to shout about, the idea that Pellegrini's side represent serious challengers to Bayern's crown had been flung to the winds. Pellegrini may seek to point to the latter stages, how his changes gave his side a foothold Bayern, though, were already home and Leder-hosed by that stage. A class apart in every facet. Pellegrini, at leisure, may repent about his key decision to ask Micah Richards to mark Ribery, omitting Pablo Zabaleta, the best right-back in the Premier League. The Chilean, too, should have seen Bayern's team sheet, with Thomas Mueller operated as a Barcelona-style "false nine" and realised playing two out and out frontmen simply ceded control of the midfield. Yaya Toure and Fernandinho were obliterated by the power and mobility of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Toni Kroos, Gael Clichy may not recover from the chasing he was handed by the brilliant Robben. But when your keeper becomes horribly fallible, not for the first time, there really is no chance. Hart has been publicly backed, increasingly tetchily, by both Hodgson and Pellegrini, in stark contrast to his treatment at Mancini's hands. Yet the errors, crucial, costly, keep on coming. After seven minutes last night, City were holed below the water line. Richards, targeted by Ribery and the overlapping David Alaba from the off, was not within 15 yards of the French winger when he took Rafinha's cross-field ball, Jesus Navas made an apology of an attempt to block. But while there was power from 25 yards, Hart saw it all the way, got a big hand to the ball - and diverted it into the roof of the net. Thereafter, with the Etihad silenced, the Bavarians in full voice, there was only one team playing. City were passed to death, the only surprise that the second only came 10 minutes after the interval. That was a shocker, too, Clichy ball-watching when Dante played a diagonal, Mueller with an age to round the exposed Hart and roll home. Soon, a third. This time Kroos robbed Fernandinho, fed Robben, who killed Matija Nastasic for pace. Hart, though, palming the right-footer into the net, berated himself again. As Bayern swarmed all over the ragged mess, Hart made saves from Robben, Kroos and Mueller, who also smashed against the bar. Only after Negredo, on for Edin Dzeko, swivelled to find the net, did City look anything of a team. David Silva, also off the bench, cracked the bar after former City man Jerome Boateng saw red for sending Toure tumbling, Negredo headed inches wide. Pellegrini will not have been fooled. City will bear the scars for a long, long time to come. http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/manchester-city-1-3-bayern-munich-2332677
