English sides
An EPL side has featured in the final of the last five competitions. Even more impressive is the fact that 9 of the last 12 semi-finalists have also hailed from England. It may be boring and repetitive for neutrals, but what it really shows is the total dominance the league's teams have held over the continent in the last few seasons. With Ronaldo now gone, and none of the Big Four having really strengthened their teams over the summer break, this could well be the season that that the Premier League's strangehold on the competition is loosened.
However, for the large part, the teams look to face little difficulty in the group stage of the competition. Arsenal have the pick of the draws, only having to overcome a Belgian, Greek and Dutch team to progress, while Chelsea and Liverpool's groups - although trickier - should not pose too much of a threat to their progression.
Manchester United's group is a bit tastier, though, thanks to its Eastern European edge. Travelling to Istambul to face Besiktas will be daunting, especially as it comes just days before the Manchester derby. The match against Moscow involves a 1,500 cross-continent plane ride, while Wolfsburg, the German champions and strongest 4th seed, complete the group. Not easy at all. If I had to pick one of the EPL sides to fall at the first hurdle, it would be the Red Devils.
"Who are ya?"
This year's draw was memorable, if only for the fact that it created a new personal record: I had never heard of four of the teams, while for another five I could tell you nothing about them other than their name. That's nearly 30% of the participants of my continent's premier competition that I have little or no knowledge of.
How could this happen? How can teams like Apoel Nicosia, Debrecen, Rubin Kazan and Unirea Urziceni get into a tournament reserved (in theory) for the best 32 teams in the continent when clubs like Roma, Tottenham, Celtic, and Schalke didn't? While I'm pleased that such minimal teams get much-needed attention and money, it really isn't good for the competition.
Yes, these clubs won their respective divisions, but the days when the Champions League was a league solely for champions has long passed. Similarly, the days when Hungarian and and Russian (etc.) clubs were European powerhouses has also passed. We want the best teams in Europe competiting for the ultimate prize - not hand-outs for 90 minutes of fame to the Cypriot champions. That's what the Europa League is for.
Group(s) of death
While the English sides look certain to progress, excusing a potential Manchester hiccup, the rest of the continent's elite look set to battle it out in a number of intruiging ties: Bayern Munich and Juventus in Group A, AC Milan and Real Madrid in Group C, Barcelona and Inter Milan in Group F... through a handful of Ukranian, French, Swiss and Portugese champions into the mix and you have quite an appetising competition, even excluding a seemingly inevitable EPL-dominated second-round.
Hollywood drama
There were two real stories just waiting to be told as the (excessively complicated) draw was being made. Neither, unfortunately, came to be. The first involved a shy, unassuming Portugese winger and his potential return to play in Manchester. The second was an Inter-Chelsea match-up, which would have placed Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho against his former club, and Chelsea coach Ancelloti against his former club's fiercest rivals.
The disapointment that neither scenario materialised is lessened by the realisation that, far from rule out the match-ups completely, the luck of the draw merely postponed them until the more intense latter stages. Can't wait.
The full draw
