Champions League
CL draw: routine for Bayern – new territory for Union
The Champions League trophy will be played in London on June 1, 2024. photo
© Laurent Gillieron/Keystone/dpa
Madrid, Manchester, Milan or like Barcelona. As always, Europe’s top clubs are waiting as opponents in the Champions League. Before the draw in Monaco, there is something special about the Bundesliga.
For the bosses of FC Bayern, the great glitz and glamor have long been routine. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge does not even travel to Monaco for the draw Champions League. Even with Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, the excitement is still manageable.
It’s completely different at Union Berlin. Until shortly before the ceremony in the Grimaldi Forum on Thursday (6 p.m.), manager Oliver Ruhnert kept the option open to travel to the principality at short notice, despite the current rush of transfers. A corresponding application has been filed with UEFA.
Prominent opponents are waiting for Union
FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, AC Milan. The possible prominent opponents electrify the iron before their premier class premiere – from the management team to the already permanently euphoric fans of the Bundesliga table leader. So it seems strange that Ruhnert and coach Urs Fischer, contrary to the facts, made it clear: “We are not a Champions League club” – the qualification is seen more as a positive coincidence.
Rarely has the discrepancy among the German starters been greater, because while in Berlin-Köpenick they even thought about a public viewing of the draw in the stadium at the Alte Försterei and this was ultimately only canceled for logistical reasons, at FC Bayern the opponents Take note of allocation on the Côte d’Azur. Whoever is drawn as an opponent should of course be defeated on the path to “maximum success” postulated by coach Thomas Tuchel.
Final at Wembley
1 June 2024, London’s Wembley Stadium. This is the place of longing for the people of Munich. “I also came to FC Bayern to try to win the Champions League here. It would of course be great for me to do that at Wembley of all places,” said new England star striker Harry Kane. President Herbert Hainer clearly formulated the expectations: “Thomas Tuchel will try to establish FC Bayern at the top international level, as we are used to. We are not satisfied that we have been eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in recent years are.”
In any case, Wembley is a good omen for the starving German football. When the handle pot was last handed over there in 2013, Bayern and BVB played a German final, which the Munich team still fondly remember after the 2-1 win.
August 31, 2023, Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, that’s a new dimension for Union in the meteoric rise in football. Pot 4 is taken as a given. Striker Kevin Volland, one of the few Union pros who was on the ball with Bayer Leverkusen in the premier class, feels the special atmosphere. “I’ve already played in the Champions League for two years. It was the same in the first year, you want the big things,” said the striker.
The big things would be the absolute top clubs like defending champions Manchester City or the elite from Spain and Italy. FC Barcelona, Manchester United and Lazio Rome or Real Madrid and AC Milan are possible constellations for the group phase, which takes place on 19/20. September starts and with the sixth and last match day on 12./13. December will end.
Really only in pot 2
However, UEFA’s betting arithmetic causes a curiosity. Since only the national champions of the six best countries are seeded in pot 1 with Bayern in addition to the defending champions of the Champions and Europa League, other top clubs such as Real Madrid, Inter Milan or Manchester United have to go into pot two – which also includes BVB and RB Leipzig are.
This means: Bayern could also catch a hammer group with Real, AC Milan and the up-and-coming English sheikh club Newcastle United. For Union, on the other hand, a constellation is also possible that sounds more like the Europa League than the Champions League. Feyenoord Rotterdam, FC Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk, which plays its home games in Hamburg, would be alternative opponents.
UEFA draw information