Page last updated at 10:59 GMT, Sunday, 08 July 2007 10:59 UK
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Champions League draw complete
The prize they're all competing for.
Arsenal were drawn into Group D. The group consisted of Portuguese Super League champions Porto, Ukraine based team Shakhtar Donetsk who came runners up in the Ukraine Premier Division last season and fourth seed team Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia.
Porto's notable players are International rising star Jose Bosingwa. A Portuguese twenty five year old who is earning his place in the Portugal national squad quite quickly. And Helder Postiga, another twenty five year old Portuguese international. Postiga has been in the rotation position for Portugal for a few years now. He had a season long spell at Premiership team Tottenham Hotspurs where he played in nineteen matches, yet only scored one goal.
Dinamo Zagreb has received the most attention they have ever received in their history with their impressive star player Luka Modric being on the trail of Avram Grant. Reports have indicated that twenty one year old attacking midfielder could have had a bid made for him by Chelsea. Grant did not accept nor deny these rumours.
Chelsea were put into group E along with Sevilla, Lazio and Sparta Prague. Sevilla were the second seed team to be put in the group. With talent like Frederic Kanoute, Luis Fabiano and Arouna Kone at the attacking end, they are a force to be reckoned with. Sevilla were off loaded of world class full back Daniel Alves by Chelsea in a deal that cost around £18 million where as Sevilla signed Khalid Bouhlarouz from Chelsea on a season long loan.
Lazio were a huge force in Europe during the ninety's. Unfortunately for them, the last time they won the Serie A was in 2000. Since then they have gone downhill and lost star quality players. They are the third seed team in the group. However, with the likes of Goran Pandev in the squad, the major part of the Lazio set up for the past two seasons, they are not totally out of contention.
Since the Czech Republic First Division started in 1992, Sparta Prague have been the main name on the trophy. They have won the league a dominant twelve times and been runners up once. In the Champions League, they have struggled to be seen as a threat by the other teams in the competition. The Sparta Prague boss said he will try and change that as much as possible.
World football giants, Man Utd have been drawn in probably the toughest group. They see themselves in Group B, facing Barcelona, Stuttgart and Toulouse. Man Utd dropped down to a second seed team this year despite winning the Premiership title last season and stopping Chelsea from the treble. They hold the record of most Premier League title wins with their name being on the trophy nine times. In Europe though they have only succeeded on two occassions, once under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Barcelona have unsurprisingly been made favourites to win this competition. They have strengthened their squad even more so and are currently likely to win the Champions League. They face a tough test of passing the group stages though with Stuttgart and Man Utd both being serious threats to them. The likes of Ronaldinho and Leo Messi are on their side to take of those threats though.
Stuttgart have grown to be a huge threat in the German Bundesliga over the years and they saw themselves winning the title last season, beating runners up Schalke. It was their first league win since 1992 and they have grown into a much better team since then. Their captain, Bernd Schneider plays a major role in the German national team and is likely to cause other teams problems.
The final English team to be put into a group was Liverpool. They went into group H as the first seed. They were drawn with PSV, CSKA Moscow and AEK. Probably the easiest of the four groups. Liverpool and PSV have been made favourites to pass to the knock out stage from that group but CSKA Moscow aren't to be counted out.
PSV will definitely be using the wing skill of Jefferson Farfan to grab the goals for them. He has been rated extremely highly by the top clubs in the world and it is a surprise that no one has signed him yet. PSV are currently the Dutch Premiership champions three times in a row, beating Ajax on all three occassions.
CSKA Moscow are the third seed team in Group H, the final group. Despite being back to back Russian Premier League champions, they are still considered an easy target. Their home games should give the other teams some challenges, with the uneasy pitches and the ecstatic home fans getting behind their team. Their attack force of Jo and Vagner Love is considered one of the most underrated in the world.
Chelsea boss Avram Grant said this after the draw took place "We got a good group. It's not the hardest in the world, it's not the easiest either. It's a good balance that we should get through yet have to play well to do so. The players can't lay back against these teams to get the win.
We should come top of the group and that's what I expect from my players. Our star quality is far superior to the other teams. Lazio and Sparta Prague aren't given as much credit as they should be. They can put up great fights and we have to play as well as we do against teams like Sevilla to get the win out of the match.
Sevilla will probably be our biggest test. They have a great team and some top quality players. Their attackers are very good and can score a lot of goals. I'm sure our defence will take care of them but we will have to give it one hundred percent for the win otherwise we'll go out of the game with nothing."
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European Champions League groups:
Group A: Lyon, Roma, Ajax, Debrecen.
Group B: Barcelona, MAN UTD, Stuttgart, Toulouse.
Group C: Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Zaglebie.
Group D: ARSENAL, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb.
Group E: CHELSEA, Sevilla, Lazion, Sparta Prague.
Group F: AC Milan, Marseille, Schalke, Anderlecht.
Group G: Valencia, Werder Bremen, Olympiakos, Dynamo Kiev.
Group H: LIVERPOOL, PSV, CSKA Moscow, AEK.
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. Thanks for the comments guys 
