Champions League Group Stage Complete

Today's matches (some which had no bearing at all) have finally completed the Group Stage for this year's Champions League.

With Groups A, B, C and D completed yesterday, Groups E-H played their final games today.

Group E was topped by Bayern Munich (last year's runners-up) and the second spot was taken by AS Roma.

Group F was won by Chelski (despite losing their match today against Marseilles) with Marseilles as runners-up

Group G was already decided, with RM atop and AC Milan in second.

Group H came down to the wire, and 3/4 way through the matches, Arsenal seemed to be teetering on being dumped out of the Group Stage.  But Shakhtar Donestsk beating Braga 2-0 helped their cause and the Gunners managed a hard-fought 3-1 win over Partizan Belgrade.  So Shakhtar top the group and Arsenal are in second.

With Arsenal losing out the top spot in Group H, it prevented the EPL from having all four teams top their groups.  Now the Gunners will have to meet a top team in the first stage of the Knockouts.

Here is a complete list of the Group Winners:

Group A:
1. Tottenham Hotspur (England)
2. Internazionale Milano (Italy)...defending champs *coughs*

Group B:
1. Schalke 04 (Germany)
2. Lyon (France)

Group C:
1. Manchester United (England)
2. Valencia (Spain)

Group D:
1. Barcelona (Spain)
2. Copenhagen (Holland)

Group E:
1. Bayern Munich (Germany)
2. AS Roma (Italy)

Group F:
1. Chelski (England)
2. Marseilles (France)

Group G:
1. Real Madrid (Spain)
2. AC Milan (Italy)

Group H:
1. Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
2. Arsenal (England)

I put the countries in parentheses because in the draw for the Knockouts, which will be held December 17th in Nyon, there are two criteria for selection.  Teams cannot play another team from their own league (country) and also cannot play a team from their own Group.

The EPL won the most groups with 3 (should have been 4...Arsenal...grrrr).  La Liga and the Bundesliga (Germany) each had 2.  Serie A (Italy) saw all three of their teams place second in their groups, including defending champs Inter.

Here is a breakdown of the possible draws for EPL and La Liga teams:

Manchester United:  Inter, Lyon, Copenhagen, Marseilles, AC Milan, Roma

Chelski: Inter, Lyon, Copenhagen, AC Milan, Roma, Valencia

Spurs: Lyon, Copenhagen, Marseilles, AC Milan, Roma, Valencia

Arsenal: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Schalke 04  (since three EPL teams topped their groups, Arsenal cannot play them, and they also could not play their group topper, Shakhtar Donetsk, which leaves two teams from Germany and two from Spain).

Real Madrid: Arsenal, Inter, Lyon, Copenhagen, Roma, Marseilles

Barcelona: Arsenal, Inter, Lyon, Roma, AC Milan, Marseilles

Valencia: Spurs, Schalke, Bayern Munich, Chelski, Shakhtar Donetsk (Valencia were runners-up to United in their group).

For the Knockouts, each pairing will play a Home and Away match.  The team with the most goals over the two-leg ties will move on to the next round.  In the event of a tie with goals, away goals count for more, so the team with the most would move on.  If that is also a tie after regulation time ends in the second tie, then the teams would go to penalty kicks to determine the winner.