that math was way off… it was 50% and we landed liverpool
will be a pretty even group
Mark will be happy he’s got a game nearby.
Not bad considering.
Monchi sighting!
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Now, to finish, I want that team that I’d never heard of before 
Good group, Betis fans will be furious. Maribor (Slovenia), Liverpool, Sparta Moscow.
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Happy with that draw. We can win that group or at least finish 2nd!
Nice draw. It could be better but still, we will probably end up fighting with Liverpool for the first, and we can surely beat those bastards just like in the EL final 2 years ago.
Now, the pots have been a bit of a mess. The second pot had way more quality than the first. In fact, it should’ve been something like: Sevilla (1st pot), Liverpool (2nd pot), Spartak (3rd), Maribor (4th).
So yeah… we are the favorites to top the group considering our European experience and Liverpool’s lack of it, but you never know in football, and after all, we’re Sevilla, so we like to complicate things and leave it till the end.
What I’m glad is that Atletico finally got a group where they should sweat a lot to pass and same goes for RM. Now of course RM will probably top it, however, Dortmund and Tottenham will surely give them a run for their money, which could translate to being a bit tired in the league.
The only downside of our draw is traveling to Moscow, but that wouldn’t compare if we got Qarabag, meaning traveling to Moscow AND Azerbaijan within 3 months, adding to that the international breaks, it would be exhausting.
Excluding the matches vs. Liverpool, I could predict 6 points out of Maribor (anythign less would be a shame, really), and at least 4 vs. Spartak. Then the points vs. Liverpool can be as a bonus, so if we want to end up first we have to do the job obviously.
Except in 2015-16, where we were on pot 3 and couldn’t avoid the top 2 pots, UEFA has been very generous with us in the draws, both in EL and CL. We only have ourselves to knock out!
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I like this group, and am pretty confident we can top it. Will absolutely relish those 2 matches vs Liverpool.
Pretty darn close to your dream draw, ShendM. Not drawing Liverpool and getting Basel might have been nice, but I think we’re in a fair group, in the sense that it’s not going to be an easy pass, but also not ridiculous like we’ve had in some past Champions’ groups.
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Yeah definitely. Sometimes with teams like Sevilla, there has to be some serious competition or else we could end up 4th if that dream draw would become true. We always give our best when challenged by strong teams, and then show signs of negligence with the weaker ones.
I just saw the calendar. One tough thing about this group is that the harder matches are frontloaded (Liverpool away and Spartak away) and then we end on easier matches. I think that’s not a bad thing, necessarily, but means that there’s a chance our “table/standings” after 3 match days may not look as rosy as we would like. But like you just said, Shendm, we often play well into adversity.
Discussion Question for the group: who is the high-flying/galactic team most likely to drop out of the group phase? Variant of that question, who would you most like to see drop out in group phase?
Barca and the Madrids just because. Also Man U (f mourinho) and the Red Bull team because you are sponsored by Red Bulls.
Ditto. That away fixture to Spartak is sandwiched in by trips to San Mamés & the Mestalla.
As far as best team to drop out from the Group Stage, I’d say Man City might run into some trouble. I don’t think Feyenoord will be that easy to play against, and Shakhtar are always a wildcard. And I’ll go with Leipzig as my choice as well. Get em outta here!
Ha ha! You are either very young or have a short memory ShendM if you think we have more European experience than Liverpool.
All in all it could have been far worse draw for us so I’m quite happy with it. 1st or 2nd in that group is no doubt achievable. Just a shame we didn’t draw “the hoops” for another party
And best of all for me, the first game is away which is the only CL group match date that I wouldn’t be able to make it to Sevilla.
Well yeah… should’ve said our RECENT experience, not in overall. The experience that you’re referring to (the CL and all that), actually none of the current Liverpool players have it, while we have the likes of Banega, N’Zonzi, Pareja, Escudero, Rico etc. who won EL’s and stuff. In that way it makes more sense yeah.
Ah! I see what you meant now. Makes more sense.
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Not a bad draw at all, the trip to moscow will be slightly taxing but spartak have been wobbly so far in their league (won money off them) so dealing with them early would help, L’pool are a bit of a wildcard right now, mane and salah are deadly but their backline is suicidal so I guess it could go either way.
As for team most likely to bow out at the group stage Roma and Manchester City could have had better draws. Man U gets a good one again so no surprise there really.