CLUBS hoping to win the Champions League will want to be draw in Group F — after stats showed it is the competition’s luckiest group. Defending winners Liverpool, as well as Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City all head to Monaco for this season’s draw this evening. And they will be pleased to know that being drawn […]
CLUBS hoping to win the Champions League will want to be draw in Group F — after stats showed it is the competition’s luckiest group.
Defending winners Liverpool, as well as Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City all head to Monaco for this season’s draw this evening.
And they will be pleased to know that being drawn in Group F has thrown up the most winners in the competition’s history.
According to Opta, six of the 16 winners since the current format kicked in in 2003-04 have come from the fifth group of eight.
That equates to a 38 per cent chance of winning the competition.
Given there are four English teams, there is a 50 per cent chance of a Premier League side being drawn in the group.
Real Madrid were the last team to win the competition from Group F, with their victory in Cardiff in 2016-17 coming after Zinedine Zidane’s side came second in the group behind Borussia Dortmund.
Other sides to win the tournament from the lucky group include Manchester United in 2007-08.
And Jose Mourinho has clinched both his Champions League victories from Group F with Porto in 2003-04 and Inter Milan in 2009-10.
Barcelona also lifted Old Big Ears in 2014-15 from the same group, while Bayern Munich’s stunning Treble under Jupp Heynckes was the same.
However, there is one side who would not like to dwell on playing in Group F — because for them it will feel cursed.
AC Milan could have upped the ratio if they had managed to beat Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League final, but we all know what happened there.
