Clubs await CL draw

27 August 2009 11:15
// A bit of a hack but it works// The article snippet is wrapped onto a second line, even when #article-sub is emptyif( $("div#article-sub").children().length == 0 ) {$("div#article-sub").remove();} Thirty-two teams await their UEFA Champions League fate on Thursday when the draw for the group stage takes place in Monaco at 5pm[LNB] Premier League quartet Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal and Scottish champions Rangers are in the hat for the draw.[LNB]The four English sides are named among the top seeds with Rangers in pot two after Sporting Lisbon and Panathinaikos were both eliminated in qualifying, meaning the SPL giants could face any of the English quartet.[LNB]Big-spending Real Madrid are also amongst the second seeds so Cristiano Ronaldo and co could face one of the Premier League's four contenders.[LNB]German champions Wolfsburg, Dutch side AZ Alkmaar, Standard Liege, Debrecen, APOEL Nicosia, FC Zurich and Unirea Urziceni are all making their first appearances in the group stage.[LNB]The 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four, with the first matches to be played on 15th/16th September. [LNB]The eight group winners plus the runners-up go through to the knockout stage of the competition, while the teams finishing third go into the Europa League. [LNB]Teams in the draw[LNB]Pot one[LNB]Barcelona [LNB]Chelsea [LNB]Liverpool[LNB]Manchester United [LNB]AC Milan[LNB]Arsenal[LNB]Sevilla[LNB]Bayern Munich[LNB]Pot Two[LNB]Lyon [LNB]Inter Milan[LNB]Real Madrid[LNB]CSKA Moscow [LNB]Porto [LNB]AZ Alkmaar[LNB]Juventus [LNB]Rangers[LNB]Pot Three[LNB]Olympiakos [LNB]Marseille [LNB]Dinamo Kiev[LNB]Stuttgart[LNB]Fiorentina [LNB]Atletico Madrid [LNB]Bordeaux [LNB]Besiktas[LNB]Pot Four[LNB]Wolfsburg [LNB]Standard Liege[LNB]Maccabi Haifa [LNB]FC Zurich[LNB]Rubin Kazan [LNB]Unirea Urziceni [LNB]APOEL Nicosia [LNB]Debrecen[LNB]Champions League draw takes place on Thursday - and you can see it live on Sky Sports News and right here on skysports.com.[LNB]To view live streaming click HERE from 4.30pm on Thursday[LNB]As ever you can catch the best of the action from Europe's top club competition right here on skysports.com.[LNB]Every match week you can watch the games of your choice live through your PC while we will also have live text commentary on all the British teams plus reports and reaction.[LNB]And that's not all. For the first time we will bring you video highlights of all matches for free.[LNB]Sky Bet will also have the very latest prices for each of the groups, outright markets and stage of elimination for each of the English clubs after the draw is made. Click here for details[LNB]

Source: SKY_Sports