Man United at UCL 2012/2013

[rondwisan]

Hans Joachim Watzke, Borussia Dortmund general manager, is in Monaco, and said: "It would be false to talk about easy and tough opponents. But if we get Barcelona, Manchester City and Juventus, I wouldn't be really satisified. Our goal is clear: We want to progress from the group stage."

Turin newspaper Tuttosport has a curious headline: "Juventuuuus", with musical notes before and after. It is a reference to the famous UEFA Champions League anthem to mark the return of the Bianconeri to Europe's most prestigius club competition. "In Europe, we will have to face new economic powerhouses but we are Juventus and we want to win every competition we are in, Champions League included," said president Andrea Agnelli.

In the group stage for a 14th time, Olympiacos are looking ahead to the draw with a mix of anticipation and nerves. Coach Leonardo Jardim said: “I would like to avoid the Spanish sides, because of their quality and competitive rhythm.” Algerian winger Djamel Abdoun disagreed. “It’s good for the players and for the fans to have a really big club in the group,” he explained. “I would like Real Madrid in our group - they are my favorite team.” Spanish attacking midfielder David Fuster concluded: “No matter which clubs we are drawn against, it will be very tough – this is the most important club competition in the world.”

East coast daily Las Provincias can’t help to raise a little “morbo” or “dark fascination” with the prospect of former Valencia coach Unai Emery returning to the region with Spartak Moskva. “The ex-Valencia boss saw his Russian Premier League side suffer before edging past Fenerbahçe in last night’s play-off,” the paper explained before saying there was every possibility the sides, in pots two and three respectively, could meet. “Will new Valencia coach [Mauricio] Pellegrino be able to make a better start to the tournament than Emery did last season when Valencia followed draws against Genk and Chelsea with a defeat away to Bayer Leverkusen?” Las Provincias wonders. “There is excitement at the prospect of Valencia reaching the last 16, but why can’t the team even dream of a place in the quarter-finals?”

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Zenit took their place after a marathon 18-month campaign as Russia’s league switched from a calendar year to summer-to-summer season.

Shakhtar had never appeared in the Europe's premier club competition before 2000 but have at least been in qualifying in every season since.

Benfica are the only side to have lost in five consecutive European Cup final appearances (1963, 1965, 1968, 1988, 1990).

In contrast to Porto, Valencia are the only club to reach multiple UEFA Champions League finals without winning.

Milan have appeared in a record six UEFA Champions League finals, sharing their mark of three wins with Madrid and Barcelona.

Porto are one of only two teams (along with Nottingham Forest) to appear in multiple European Cup finals and never lose (1987 & 2004).

Arsenal are the only team in the top-ranked Pot 1 not to have won the European Cup.

Real Madrid are one win away from becoming the first team to 100 UEFA Champions League victories (Manchester United have 98, Barcelona 97).

Manchester United are making a record 17th consecutive appearance in the competition (Arsenal and Real Madrid are on 16).

Barcelona are the only club to have been involved in a European competition in every season since the European Cup and Fairs Cup began in 1955.

Chelsea’s 2012 win made London the sixth capital to welcome the European Cup after Madrid, Amsterdam, Belgrade, Lisbon and Bucharest.

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There will be four European Footballers of the Year present at the draw. Each will be responsible for drawing teams from one of the pots, and the ambassador for the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley will be unveiled – before also helping out with the draw.

CFR coach Ioan Andone has already set himself a group-stage target, regardless of who the Romanian side get in the draw. “I know how hard it is, but our first and main aim will be to get more points than Romania’s points-record holders in the group stage, Unirea Urziceni, who won eight points three years ago.”

Two of the sides to progress this week, CFR and BATE, are the only ones amnong the 29 2012/13 contenders that have been in the group stage before who have never to have made the knockouts.

If Ajax finish third in their group they will transfer to the UEFA Europa League – the final of which will be at their Amsterdam ArenA.

This is Olympiacos’s 21st consecutive year in European club competition.

English champions Manchester City have never made it through a round of Europe’s premier club competition.

Schalke are the first team to qualify automatically by finishing third in the Bundesliga after Germany overtook Italy in the rankings.

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Nordsjælland sporting director Jan Laursen is philosophical about the Danish champions' draw prospects. "We can only meet big teams, so no matter who we get, there are some huge challenges ahead of us," he said. "That being said, I basically want as many points as possible, so if we get just one big team, from whom we can learn a lot, and then beat the two other teams in the group, it would be great! However, it is impossible to say who we will get, and all I know is that we will be very well prepared, no matter what teams come out of the hat."

Braga have qualified for the second time for the group stage and that historic achievement was underlined by the fans that waited through the night at Porto’s Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport to welcome the team home. “Udine heroes received with a warm welcome,” wrote O Jogo. "Madness at the airport,” added Record), while A Bola leads with: “Warriors enjoy a day of euphoria – over a thousand fans welcome Udine heroes."

A reminder of what we have coming up...
13.00, Grimaldi Forum – Atlético press conference
15.30, Grimaldi Forum – Chelsea press conference
17.45, Grimaldi Forum – UEFA Champions League group stage draw, including the presentation ceremony of the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award
19.00, Stade Louis II – Chelsea training session
20.15, Stade Louis II – Atlético training session

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"If we are amongst the best of Europe we have to be prepared to face every opponent," says FC Porto coach Vítor Pereira, with the Portuguese champions hoping to improve on their third-placed finish in last season's group stage. "Last year we didn't reach our goal.
We have expectations, we know our quality and we know that regardless of the opponents we have the capacity to compete in every game with the best of Europe."

FC Dynamo Kyiv fans will be able to watch the draw live at Stadion Dinamo im. Valeriy Lobanovskyi together with players Miloš Ninković, Ognjen Vukojević and Niko Kranjčar who will stay after the draw to chat with the fans, asses the club's chances and answer questions.

A current representative of FC Shakhtar Donetsk, midfielder Henrik Mkhitaryan, is happy to take the draw as it comes: "I see no difference who Shakhtar are drawn against because we have to play whoever we get. This is a lottery; you just have to study your opponents and work to beat them."

FC Bayern München midfielder Anatoliy Tymoschuk has been looking forward to the draw on Facebook, and is keen to be reunited with either of his former clubs. "It is the Champions League draw today,” said the Ukrainian international. “To tell the truth I would love to play against Zenit or Shakhtar."

Having signed a five-year contract with SL Benfica earlier this month Eduardo Salvio, who had a loan spell at the Lisbon giants in 2010/11, is predicting a tough test for the Portuguese side. "We have to be prepared to face Barcelona or Real Madrid," said the 22-year-old, who has scored in his first two league games this season. "We have to believe that we can put in a good performance in the Champions League."

Meanwhile, preparations are continuing for the UEFA Champions League group stage draw which will be streamed live on UEFA.com from 17.45CET. Anticipation is mounting in Monaco and around Europe as the 32 qualified teams wait to discover their fate.

The Chelsea FC press conference, with coach Roberto Di Matteo and Spanish duo Juan Mata and Fernando Torres – the latter a hero at Atlético following 84 goals in 214 Liga games before his move to Liverpool FC in summer 2007 – in attendance follows at 15.30CET.

Key to the Spanish side's chances is likely to be Falcao, and the prolific Colombian striker is anticipating an open encounter. "Chelsea are a very organised side who defend well and come forward as a team well too. They are strong, but we can stand up to them and beat them. I think we could see an entertaining game."

If Atlético do triumph at the Stade Louis II tomorrow night, Gabi will lift the trophy although the captain acknowledges the size of the task at hand. "Chelsea are going to be tricky rivals," he explained. "They have signed very good players this summer to complete a competitive squad. We’re going to focus on our job because we deserve to be here after winning the Europa League."

UEFA.com's Sam Adams has the latest from the Atlético press conference, where coach Diego Simeone is playing down the opportunity to win the UEFA Super Cup for the second time in three years. "We know there’s an enormous prize at the end and what we want to delve into is how to achieve it," said the Argentinian. "We’re playing a game with high stakes but we need to focus on the match, not the cup."

Atlético's UEFA Super Cup press conference at the Grimaldi Forum is under way.

Having failed to make it through the group stage in 2011/12, Manchester United are determined to make amends. Whoever the Reds are bundled with, qualification to the knockout phase will be the minimum target after a disappointing 2011/12 campaign when United failed to progress past the group stage - and later bowed out of the Europa League at the hands of Athletic Club. "We're better than that," Sir Alex Ferguson said. "That won't happen again. We'll qualify from the group stages. I'll make sure of it. We need to make a statement and show everybody last season was just a blip."

With Braga joining Porto and Benfica in this afternoon's draw, Portugal has three teams in the group stage for the third time, having previously reached that high-water mark in 2006/07 and 2007/08.

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Anderlecht certainly have plenty of European pedigree; the Brussels club reached two European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals and five quarter-finals and have also won the Cup Winners’ Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup.

Another team returning to the group stage are RSC Anderlecht, who last featured in 2006/07. The Belgian side overturned a 2-1 first-leg loss at AEL Limassol FC to win their play-off 3-2 on aggregate, the first time they have overturned a defeat in the opening match of a tie since 2004, ending a run of seven successive aggregate defeats when they lost the first leg.

Porto's domestic rivals SC Braga are in the group stage draw for only the second time, having finished third behind FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Arsenal FC in the 2010/11 competition. The Portuguese side therefore moved into the UEFA Europa League, and went on to reach the final, which they lost 1-0 in Dublin – to Porto.

[taz_devil_utd]

Semoga dapet satu grup dengan Benfica lagi, pengan balas dendam atas musim lalu

[taz_devil_utd]

Link streaming Champions League Draw:

http://www.thefirstrow.eu/watch/137961/1/watch-uefa-champions-league-draw.html

[rondwisan]

yak ..., Manchester United berada di Group H
temennya Braga, Galatasaray, CFR Cluj

[theater of dream]

Originally Posted by rondwisan

yak ..., Manchester United berada di Group H
temennya Braga, Galatasaray, .....

Bertandang ke Klub2 Turki selalu seru atmosfir nya