Champions League Group Stage Draw

Join Goal.com for all the latest on the Champions League group stage draw, which took place at 18:00 CET in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The big guns - not least holders Manchester United - entered at this stage, and 32 teams remain overall. Where was your team drawn? Group A

Chelsea

Roma

Bordeaux

Cluj

Group B

Inter Milan

Wender Bremen

Panathiakos

Anarthosis

Group C

Barcelona

Sporting Lisbon

Basel

Shaktar D

Group D

Liverpool

PSV

Marseille

At. Madrid

Group E

Manchester Utd

Villarreal

Celtic

Aalborg BK

Group F

Lyon

Bayern Munchen

Steaua B

Fiorentina

Group G

Arsenal

Porto

Fenerbahce

Dynamo Kiev

Group H

Real Madrid

Juventus

Zenit P

Bate

18:58 CET: Well, UEFA are wishing us goodnight from Monaco as they retire for what will doubtless be an evening of champagne, high society, and gossip. I, meanwhile, must also bid you adieu for a night of orange soda, a kebab, and updating Goal.com. This is Ewan Macdonald thanking you for joining us for this live coverage of the UEFA Champions League draw - stick with us throughout the season for all the action, views and news as they happen. 18:57 CET: Next on the list, it's CRISTIANO RONALDO, who almost manages a smile! Cristiano Ronaldo is European Club Footballer of the Year! 18:56 CET: 'Real' Ronaldo, David Beckham, Fernando Redondo, Stefan Effenburg, Zinedine Zidane, Gianluigi Buffon, Deco, Steven Gerrard, Ronaldinho, Kaká... who's next for this award, which is now in its eleventh iteration? 18:50 CET: Michel Platini comes onto the stage to present a 1 million Swiss Franc cheque to this year's worthy cause. It's to "ELA", the European Leukodystrophy Association, who count Zinedine Zidane as one of their patrons. So, that's around €620,000 for charity - not a bad amount at all. Zizou is on stage to aid with the presentation. Zidane gave a lengthy and impassioned speech in favour of the organisation, and now it's time for the European Club Footballer of the Year award. Anyone else think it's going to be Ronaldo? 18:44 CET: AaB Aalborg are back for their second shot at the group stage, and they'll meet... as soon as Conti picks up the ball he dropped, we'll know... Man Utd, for they're in Group E! Fiorentina join Group F, which looks quite even at this point. Romanian champions CFR Cluj, the railwaymen, must puff their way to London to meet Chelsea in Group A. Dynamo Kyiv, who so thrashed Spartak Moscow in the last round, join Group G. Anorthosis, stunners of Olympiacos, will represent Cyprus in Group... come on, Bruno, open it... Group B. Panathinaikos await them. Atletico Madrid are put in Group D so as to avoid Barcelona and Real Madrid, so Fernando Torres will get to meet his old side! BATE Borisov, the lowest-seeded representatives of all, are put into Group H automatically - presumably so that Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv are in different "halves" for TV reasons - and thus Shakhtar are last out for Group C. That's it! 18:41 CET: No surprises: forward of the year is CRISTIANO RONALDO! Another England-based player but the only non-Chelsea man in the awards. He greets Eusebio with a half-hug. He gives a brief acceptance speech focusing on the benefits of hard work, before thanking those who voted for him, his teammates - but not his manager - and those in attendance, to whom he wished a good night. With that he was gone. Anyway, time for Pot 4, with no fewer than three debutants. 18:40 CET: Jeez, Eusebio is out to give the forwards' award. Quite understandably there is a standing ovation for the Benfica and Portugal legend, who sadly doesn't look too comfortable on his feet. Anyway, it's the Club Forward of the Year award. Drogba tops the billing - could Chelsea win this award, too? - but there's also Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and Fernando 'Nando' 'El Niño' 'Toro' Torres. 18:34 CET: "Geerodahn" de Bordeaux are prised out of the ball by David Taylor to start with... they're in with Chelsea and Roma! What a difficult group for Laurent Blanc's side. Fenerbahce - bottom seeds in the third pot, bearing in mind these seedings stretch back five years - are in with Arsenal and Porto. UEFA Cup winners Zenit are fed to the lions - Madrid and Juventus. Cue wry chuckles and downcast expressions from the Russian contingent in the audience. Basel join Barcelona, who'll be happy with their draw so far. Panathinaikos join Werder and Inter. Celtic, they of the famous home record, are in with Man Utd (again) and Villarreal. Marseille, who seemed to save their best for Europe last season, are thrown into Group D so as to avoid Lyon - and meet Liverpool again. So, Steaua Bucharest are in with Les Gones... oh, and Bayern, of course. That's Pot 3 out of the way! 18:32 CET: Ooh, the UEFA commentator stole my 'clean sweep' idea. Anyway, it's down for another one of those lovely UEFA highlight reels for the Pot 3 groups: Marseille, Zenit, Basel and the like. It's a "competitive" third pot, say UEFA, and they're not wrong: plenty of gritty, scrappy teams here from all the far-flung corners of the continent. Forget your "super league" stuff - teams like this help make European football what it is. 18:30 CET: That's Pot 2 done, so it's time for the midfielder of the year award... and it's FRANK LAMPARD! Wow! A clean sweep for Chelsea in the three awards. Surely they won't get the forward award, too?! 18:25 CET: Sporting are the first team out, and they're in Group C along with Barcelona! (Look above for all the latest.) Next, PSV against Liverpool. Then, Villarreal are with Manchester United for more 0-0 action. Juventus... they'll meet Real Madrid. That's an old-school European match for you! Chelsea-Roma, a tough one for the Italians. Arsenal will be happy enough with Porto. Then Bayern are thrown in with Lyon, and Werder Bremen face Inter by default. That's Pot 2 all done! 18:24 CET: Well done to Terry and Cech, then. Incidentally UEFA have fixed their audio feed, to the considerable relief of many in the audience struggling to identify some of Europe's top teams. 18:22 CET: The defender of the year award goes to JOHN TERRY! That's two out of two prizes for Chelsea so far. 18:21 CET: Franco Baresi is out for the defenders' award. What a player. No offence to those involved, but some of the nominees for this year's prize couldn't lace his boots. 18:20 CET: Well, that's the first seeds drawn. Next is the defender of the year award, and then the second seeds. This is where it gets interesting. (Interestingly enough, United - the reigning holders - were drawn last. "Interestingly," that is.) 18:16 CET: The first seeds are being drawn as we speak. Chelsea will be in Group A. Truth be told this stage of the draw isn't at all exciting, unless watching eight pre-determined clubs be assigned letters is your bag. Remember, none of the Pot 1 teams can be drawn against each other. Nonetheless we'll endeavour to give you the updates first. 18:15 CET: Incidentally, if you're waiting for the defender, midfielder, and attacking awards, these will come before pots 2-4 are drawn. A bit more on the 'TV pairings', by the way: broadly there will be two separate groups of 'red' and 'blue' to take account of the national pairings, ensuring that, say, Madrid and Barcelona won't often be made to play on the same night, if at all. And now a highlight reel of Pot 1, with whom you can re-acquaint yourself at the foot of the page. 18:13 CET: David Taylor and Giorgio Marquetti, UEFA general secretary and director of competitions (respectively), appear to give us the explanation of the draw. Goal.com has already outlined these below, although 'TV pairings' will also play a role, as well as country protection. 18:11 CET: Petr shares a few words with the audience and then he's off. Bruno Conti comes on for the draw, kissing the female presentation host perhaps very slightly too enthusiastically. The big nosed one is, however, completely in his element, despite not having any English. He also tipped Roma for the final. 18:08 CET: There are some audio problems at the presentation, so most are enjoying the highlights reel in silence, not that this really takes away from it. The winner: PETR CECH! 18:06 CET: We are being reminded, somewhat prematurely, that the Stadio Olimpico in Rome will be the final's venue. In the meantime we have the 'European Club Football Awards', which were voted for by those managers whose sides reached the knockout stages. Peter Schmeichel is awarding the goalkeeper's prize. (We'll keep a record of the winners in a separate news piece, but I'll also keep you updated here.) 18:02 CET: UEFA are playing one of those highlight reels that they do so well, featuring the best of the group stages as they build towards the all-English final. Speaking of which, I am informed that the British bookmarkers are offering 6/4 odds for an English team to win; 10/3 for an all-English final (again); and team odds of 5/1 for Chelsea, and 6/1 for holders Manchester United. Real Madrid fans can back their heroes at 7/1, and Barcelona slightly longer at 8/1. 17:58 CET: At the Grimaldi forum the tension is mounting. The presenters are out and talking with ease, while the various worthies and dignitaries in the crowd wring their hands in impatience. 17:50 CET: Welcome to the draw! The 32 teams have been split into four 'pots' as determined by their UEFA co-efficients. These range from 1.760 for little BATE Borisov to 124.996 for top seeds Chelsea, although as holders Man Utd are effectively the top seeds. No team from the same pot can be drawn against another from its seeding pot. That is to say each of the eight groups will contain a team from pot 1, a team from pot 2, a team from pot 3, and a team from pot 4. Furthermore there is a country protection stipulation: all four teams in any given group, A through H, will be from a different national association. (Were this not the case then three Spanish teams could end up in the same group, for example. Obviously that must be avoided.) The pots are as follows (italic = not drawn yet):
Pot 1
Manchester United Chelsea Liverpool Barcelona Arsenal Lyon Internazionale Real Madrid
Pot 2
Bayern München  PSV Eindhoven Villarreal Roma Porto Werder Bremen Sporting Juventus 
Pot 3
Marseille Zenit St. Petersburg Steaua Bucureşti Panathinaikos Bordeaux Celtic FC Basel Fenerbahçe 
Pot 4
Shakhtar Donestsk Fiorentina Atlético Madrid Dynamo Kyiv CFR Cluj Aalborg BK Anorthosis Famagusta BATE Borisov

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