UCL group stage draw and Award Ceremony
The group stage draw has begun and the grandest stage in Europe is set for the 2020/21 season. The UEFA group stage draw is taking place at Geneva, Switzerland in which 32 teams are participating. The 32 teams will be drawn into eight different groups.
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The UEFA Champions League group stage draw began at 17:00 CET at Geneva, Switzerland. Unlike previous years the draw is taking place without the representatives of the 32 teams due to the COVID – 19 pandemic. UEFA also integrated the Award Ceremony with the UCL draw tonight.
Before the group stage draw UEFA began the award ceremony. The first award was the UEFA president award which was given to Didier Drogba. UEFA President Aleksander Caferin presented Drogba with the President Award. It is to be noted that Didier Drogba is the first Non-European to win the UEFA president award.
The next award was the Best Goalkeeper of the 2019/20 season. Manuel Neur was named the Men’s Goalkeeper of the 2019/20 season.
Following Manuel Neur’s Speech the group stage draw has begun. UEFA is telecasting a video which explains the draw process. UEFA confirmed that the match calendar will be revealed Friday [2nd October] evening.
The Domestic League Champions and UEFA league Champions who belong to pot 1 have been drawn into different groups.
- Bayern Munich – Group A
- Real Madrid – Group B
- Porto – Group C
- Liverpool – Group D
- Sevilla – Group E
- Zenit – Group F
- Juventus – Group G
- PSG – Group H
- Following the 1st pot draw the award for the Best Defender of 2019/20 season was announced by UEFA. Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich and David Alaba were the nominees for the award. Interestingly all the nominees belong to European champions Bayern Munich. Full back Joshua Kimmich was named the best defender of 2019/20 season.
Following the award for the best defender the fate of the 8 teams who belong to the Pot B was decided. The 8 teams were drawn into different groups as follows:
- Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid – Group A
- Real Madrid, Shakthar Donstek – Group B
- Porto, Manchester City – Group C
- Liverpool, Ajax – Group D
- Sevilla, Chelsea – Group E
- Zenit, Borrusia Dortmund – Group F
- Juventus, Barcelona– Group G
- PSG, Manchester United – Group H
Following the second pot draw, UEFA named Kevin De Bruyne as the Midfielder of 2019/20 season
The draw has already turned out to be an exciting one. Manchester United are going to take on PSG in Group H and Bayern take on Atletico in Group A. Last but not least Messi vs Ronaldo battle is back again as Juventus and Barcelona have been drawn into Group G.
Following the best midfielder award the draw continued where the teams belonging to pot 3 were drawn into 8 different groups.
- Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Salsburg – Group A
- Real Madrid, Shakthar Donstek, Inter Milan – Group B
- Porto, Manchester City, Olympiacos – Group C
- Liverpool, Ajax, Atalanta – Group D
- Sevilla, Chelsea, Krasnodar – Group E
- Zenit, Borrusia Dortmund, Lazio – Group F
- Juventus, Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv – Group G
- PSG, Manchester United, Leipzig – Group H
Following the pot 3 draw, UEFA named the best forward of 2019/20 season. Robert Lewandowski was crowned as the best forward of last season.
Following the best forward, the draw continued where the teams belonging to pot 4 were drawn into 8 different groups.
- Bayern Munich – Atletico Madrid – Salsburg and Lokomotiv – Group A
- Real Madrid – Shakthar Donstek – Inter Milan and Monchengladbach – Group B
- Porto – Manchester City – Olympiacos and Olympique De Marseille – Group C
- Liverpool – Ajax – Atalanta and Midtjylland – Group D
- Sevilla – Chelsea – Krasnodar and Stade Rennais – Group E
- Zenit – Borrusia Dortmund – Lazio and Club De Brugge – Group F
- Juventus – Barcelona – Dynamo Kyiv and Ferencvarosi – Group G
- PSG – Manchester United – Leipzig and Istanbul Basheksheir – Group H
Following the completion of group stage draw , UEFA named the best coach of 2019/20 season. Hansi Flick was crowned as the best coach of last season.
The final award of the year was the UEFA Men’s player of the year award. Undoubtedly Robert Lewandowski who won the Forward of the year award was crowned the UEFA Men’s player of the year.
The draw resulted in two groups being the most dangerous which are Group D and Group H.
With the crowning of Robert Lewandowski as the Men’s player of the year the UEFA award ceremony came to an end.
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R.C. Navin Kumar
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