After 2 preliminary rounds in the Europa League, in which AS Roma managed to win respectively 10-2 and 10-4 on aggregate vs. sub-standard opposition, today we got to the long awaited draw for the Group stage, to be played over 6 games between September and December.
With AS Roma in Pot 1, along with all the other top seeds, all the possible permutations from the other lower-ranked pots offered some really mouth-watering prospects; lots of teams that you’d never get the chance to play in the Champions League, new destinations, new stadia etc..
After all I suppose that our draw was ok... could have been better, could have been worse. At least we avoided a trip to Israel (too far, too expensive, too.... not European at all) or other countries where you’d need a visa to get into. More in detail, we got the following teams:
With AS Roma in Pot 1, along with all the other top seeds, all the possible permutations from the other lower-ranked pots offered some really mouth-watering prospects; lots of teams that you’d never get the chance to play in the Champions League, new destinations, new stadia etc..
After all I suppose that our draw was ok... could have been better, could have been worse. At least we avoided a trip to Israel (too far, too expensive, too.... not European at all) or other countries where you’d need a visa to get into. More in detail, we got the following teams:
1) from Pot 2, we got Basel FC. Not overly keen on a trip to this city in the German-speaking part of the country. For some reason Switzerland never did too much for me. It may be beautiful and clean but also very expensive. I dunno, I’d always prefer a trip to neighbouring Austria for example. Anyway, I have never been to Basel before so, all said and done, our first away trip is there in mid-September. Thanks to Easyjet, managed to limit the damage to £64, not bad indeed.
2) From Pot 3 we picked Fulham and this is a major disappointment. I mean, there were so many possible trips to Eastern Europe (Prague or Zagreb would have been excellent)... and we get poxy Fulham?? Looking on the bright side, at least it’s an ‘away’ game (to be played in late October) that will cost me zilch to get to. Apart from that, I can’t find any other positives. We should bring quite a few Roma lads for this match, as – being in London – you never know who’s going to turn up for the other side. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
3) Finally we got some joy from Pot 4 as we picked CSKA Sofia. Absolutely delighted with it – we have never played against this opposition and personally I have never been to Bulgaria before it’s good news all round. Had a quick gander on the Net and it looks like Stelios once again will be the carrier of choice for the last trip in the group stage in mid-December. If I book early, I could get a return ticket for less than £70, which considering the current state of my finances, is welcome news.
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