Champions League Draw - Bayern Gets Valencia, Lille, and BATE

After a ton of screwing around, the UEFA committee finally complete the draw for the CL Group Stage. Here's how it panned out:

A – Porto .. Kiev .. PSG ..Dinamo Zagreb
B – Arsenal .. s04 .. Olympiakos .. Montpelier
C – Milan .. Zenit .. Anderlecht .. Malaga
D – Madrid .. Man City .. Ajax .. Dortmund
E – Chelsea .. Shakhtar D .. Juve .. Nords
F – Bayern .. Valencia .. Lille .. BATE
G – Barca .. Benfica .. Spartak .. Celtic
H – Man U .. Braga .. Galatasaray … CFR Cluj

Bayern's draw is relatively easy. Not to say those teams are push-overs, but if we're healthy and do what we would eb expected to do, we should advance.

Group D is obviously the toughest - defending champs from Spain, England, Netherlands, and Germany, (I think they Ajax were drawn with Madrid last year, too).

Chances for upsets? Well, in group A, the 3rd-ranked team had a great chance to advance. Not sure if that really even counts as an "upset." Similarly, in group E, Juventus has a solid chance to advance and it wouldn't be a shock to see them win the group outright. Barca and Man U get pretty easy draws. Arsenal and Schalke would be favored to come out of group B, but the other 2 clubs in that group aren't push-overs.

What do you think? Looks like a pretty good draw for Bayern - we should be favored to win the group, but it's not so simple that we just have to show up. That Group D will be fun to watch.