ANDhe draw for the Champions League distributed very good luck to the five Spanish teams: Real Madrid and Atlético avoided the coconuts of pot 1 by being paired with Naples and Feyenoordrespectively; Bara had the fortune to avoid the most difficult rivals and so much Seville like Real Sociedad were framed in groups in which they have options to get into the round of 16, although Mendilibar’s men will have a difficult time.
The group of death brought together PSG, Dortmund, Milan and Newcastle in group F, so Luis Enrique will have a difficult path to get the ticket in this first phase. Nobody wanted Newcastle in pot 4 and the bombing went to PSG, which also met Milan in pot 3.
Real Madrid was in pot 2 and feared City, PSG and Bayern. The luck of meeting with Naples make it go to measure three teams with little experience in the Champions League. The Italian champions, Nápoles, will cross paths for Real Madrid again and, furthermore, they will face the Portuguese Braga and Union Berlin, which makes its debut in the highest continental competition.
Simple seems the way for him Barcelona. The objective of passing the first phase after two failing seasons seems to be more than possible seeing the level of the rivals: Porto, Shakhtar and Antwerp. The Belgians make their debut in the Champions League, the Ukrainians will have to play in exile in Hamburg and Porto do not seem like a strong rival at the moment.
Atlético took the weakest rival of the first drum (Feyenoord), Celtic is a rival that is in principle far from the level of Simeone’s and only Lazio seems like the team that can compete with the rojiblancos in this group E.
Sevilla and Real, with options
The two Spanish teams with the least amount of time in the Champions League ended up satisfied after the draw. Those of Mendilibar will have a very difficult rival, Arteta’s Arsenal, and two affordable ones like Luuk de Jong’s PSV and the French Lens.
Real Sociedad returns to the top continental competition and in group D it will have Benfica, Inter and Salzburg. Those of Imanol, despite being in drum 4, may have options to get into the round of 16.
The calendar of the six days of this first phase of the Champions League will be known before 12:00 in the morning of next Saturday.