Stamford Bridge bids adieu to Shaun Wright-Phillips as the winger was sold to his former club Manchester City. He was bought in the 2005 summer and always remained in the shadows of more crafty wingers like robben, Joe Cole and Duff. Wright-Phillips had his chances when Robben and Duff left but failed to capitalize on it. He lacked the consistency to be a regular first team player though a lot was expected from the England international.
In total Wright-Phillips started 65 games and played 59 games as a sub for Chelsea, scoring 10 goals. His departure means the Robinho deal would be finished any time now. Obviously Real is holding on to Robinho because Calderon wants maximum possible price from Chelsea. All the best to Wright-Phillips and lets hope he scores goals galore, except when its against us.
More good news followed for Blue fans as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Petr Cech have all been given Uefa awards in their respective positions. The awards were given out in a ceremony in Monaco, the venue where group stage draw of 54th Champions League was carried out by the Union of European Football Associations. The following are the eight Champions League groupings -
- Group A: Chelsea, AS Roma, Bordeaux, Cluj.
- Group B: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, Famagusta.
- Group C: FC Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Basel, Shakhtar Donetsk.
- Group D: Liverpool, PSV Eindhoven, Marseille, Atlético de Madrid.
- Group E: Manchester United, Celtic, Villareal, Aalborg.
- Group F: Lyon, Bayern Munich, Steaua Bucureşti, Fiorentina.
- Group G: Arsenal, Porto, Fenerbache, Dynamo Kiev.
- Group H: Real Madrid, Juventus, Zenit St. Petersburg, Borisov.
Bordeaux are the French league runners up and are a formidable side coached by ex-United player Laurent Blanc. Meanwhile CFR Cluj are the Romanian champions who won both the league and cup last season. Cluj are busy during the transfer window preparing for European competition.
The Blues' fixtures for the group stages are -
Wednesday 1 October - Cluj (away)
Wednesday 22 October - Roma (home)
Tuesday 4 November - Roma (away)
Wednesday 26 November - Bordeaux (away)
Tuesday 9 December - Cluj (home)
