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Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:30 pm |
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FCBayernNews
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Joined: 31 Aug 2006
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| Post subject: Reds to face Inter, Sporting and Spartak |
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| 24.08.2006 Bayern have drawn Italian giants Internazionale, Portuguese runners-up Sporting Lisbon and Moscow cracks Spartak in Group B of this season's Champions League.
Munich were always braced for a tough group, although it might have been worse as the draw could have placed the four-times winners in a section with the likes of holders Barcelona, the previous season's winners Liverpool, English Premiership giants Arsenal or Manchester United, nine-times winners Real Madrid, or the side who knocked Munich out at the quarter-final stage last term, AC Milan.
Free-spending Milanese
Nevertheless, Internazionale represent a huge challenge for a Munich team in a process of transition. The Neroazzurri, crowned Italian champions last term after disgraced Juventus were stripped of the title in the match-fixing scandal which continues to rock the Italian game, went on a summer spending spree which has added superstars Patrick Vieira, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, World Cup winner Fabio Grosso and Argentine goal-getter Henan Crespo to an already formidable squad.
Sporting Lisbon, third only to Benfica and Porto in terms of Portuguese domestic championship triumphs, and nine-times European Cup/Champions League participants Spartak will be no pushovers either as Bayern seek a minimum target of progressing from the group and featuring in the first knockout round early next year.
To Inter in late September
The draw ceremony took place at 6 pm on Thursday evening in front of 1,900 invited guests at the traditional location, the Salle des Princes at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
Bayern open their campaign on Tuesday 12 September at home to Russian top flight runners-up Spartak, with the most daunting of the fixtures, the trip to northern Italy and the imposing San Siro stadium, on matchday 2 just over two weeks later. The return at the Allianz Arena against the big-spending Italians rounds off the group stage on 5 December.
This season's Champions League Final takes place on 23 May 2007 in Athens.
Bayern's Group B fixture schedule:
Tuesday 12 September: Bayern - Spartak Moscow
Wednesday 27 September: Inter Milan - Bayern
Wednesday, 18 October: Sporting Lisbon - Bayern
Tuesday 31 October: Bayern - Sporting Lisbon
Wednesday 22 November: Spartak Moscow - Bayern
Tuesday 5 December: Bayern - Inter Milan
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