Predicting Last 16 Of Champions League

By Tom Skinner /

The draw for the 2013/14 Champions League took place in Monaco last Thursday with 5 British teams making it to the group stages. The groups promise to be as hotly contested as ever, with some stronger than others. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal were all in pot A as the top seeds and were drawn in groups A, E and F respectively. Manchester City did relatively well out of their draw, being placed in group D alongside last years winners Bayern Munich. The unfortunate British team were Celtic, who have been drawn to face Barcelona, AC Milan and Ajax in the nicknamed 'Group of Death', group H. With Europe's top 32 teams once again ready to compete for one of football's most coveted prizes, it is time to see who will make it out of the groups and into the last 16, where for many, the tournament begins!

Group A

Predicted Table: 1. Manchester United 2. Real Sociedad 3. Shakhtar Donetsk 4. Bayer Leverkusen Following on from their exit in the round of 16 in last year's competition, Manchester United will be looking to go much further this time around under new manager David Moyes. After being one of the top seeds, and first team to be drawn out, they have done relatively well to get a group such as this. Real Sociedad had a great season last year in domestic football, finishing 4th in La Liga, just 10 points behind Atletico Madrid. In my mind they are United's greatest threat to top spot, however in reality I think it will become a three-way battle for second, with United topping the group. Shakhtar are a good side and have been known to cause upsets at this level, but I am going to stick with the form and predict that United and Sociedad will progress.