GROUP A
Bayern Munich
Villarreal
Manchester City
Napoli
Only two of those teams have Brazilians in there squad. Bayern who counts three players: the midfielder Luiz Gustavo and the two full backs Breno and Rafinha. On the other hand Villarreal counts only one Brazilian, Nilmar, who was once announced as the new crack but now as only a few sporadic appearances in the Selecao.
GROUP B
Inter Milan
CSKA Moscow
Lille
Trabzonspor
Favourite in the Group B Inter Milan is also one of the teams with the highest number of Brazilians. In defence three players are regulars of the Selecao Lucio, Maicon, and Julio Cesar. While in the midfield, Phillipe Coutinho, one of the revelations in the U20 World Cup is already a titular in the Italian side and Jonathan recently signed at Inter. CSKA counts with the former player from Flamengo Vagner Love. While Lille has striker Tulio de Mello and Trabzonspor has another striker Alanzninho.
GROUP C
Manchester United
Benfica
Basel
Otelul Galati
There are eight Brazilians in the Group C, and all of them play for the group’s two favourites: Manchester United and Benfica. For the Portuguese club: Luisao (centre back), Bruno Cesar (midfielder), Artur (goalkeeper), Jardel (centre back) and Emerson (centre back). For the Red Devils: Anderson, and the Da Silva twins, Fabio and Rafael.
GROUP D
Real Madrid
Lyon
Ajax
Dynamo Zagreb
The group D sees once more the confrontation between Lyon and Real Madrid. Indeed the game has become a Champions League classic with the two teams being well equipped with Brazilians. Real Madrid has Kaka and Marcelo, recently called back in the Selecao by Mano Menezes. While Lyon, the most Brazilian team of the French League, has Cris, Ederson and Michel Bastos. Playing in Croatia at Zagreb is Sammir.
GROUP E
Chelsea
Bayern Leverkusen
Racing Genk
Valencia
In the Group E which is well balanced apart for the Racing Genk who will have to struggle to get their qualification all teams count at least one Brazilian. Chelsea lead with at three players, the centre backs David Luiz and Alex and the midfielder Ramires. The Belgium side Genk counts a Midfielder, Jose Nadson, who never played in a Brazilian senior team and did most of his career in Moldova. Renato Augosto played three seasons at Flamengo before signing in 2008 at Bayer Leverkusen. In Spain goalkeeper Diego Alves, who was Renan’s backup in the Selecao for the Olympics in Beijing, is Valencia’s first keeper. Also at Valencia is the forward Jonas.
GROUP F
Olympiakos
Marseille
Borussia Dortmund
Arsenal
In this Group only Arsenal doesn’t have a Brazilian in their ranks. Three Brazilians play in Greece at Olympiakos: Diogo (striker), who is on loan from Santos, Leandro Pinto (defender) and Leonardo (left back). Marseille who use to have more Brazilians now only have Elinton Andrade (goalkeeper). Finally playing at Dortmund are Felipe Santana (defender) and Antônio da Silva (midfielder).
GROUP G
FC Porto
Shakhtar Donetsk
APOEL Nicosie
Zenith St Petersburg
The Group G is the group of the Brazilians with 22 nationals divided between three teams. Playing for Porto are: Alex Sandro (defender), Fernando (midfielder), Helton (goalkeeper and captain), Hulk (striker), Kleber (forward), Maicon (defender), Rafael Bracalli (goalkeeper), Souza (midfielder), Walter (forward). Eight Brazilians are playing in Ukraine at Shakhtar: Alan Patrick (midfielder), Alex Teixeira (midfielder), Dentinho (forward), Douglas Costa (midfielder), Fernandinho (midfielder), Jádson (midfielder), Luiz Adriano (midfielder), Willian (forward). Finally playing at APOEL Nicosie are five Brazilians: Ailton Almeida (forward), Gustavo Manduca (midfielder), Marcelo Oliveira (defender), Marcinho (midfielder), William Boaventura (defender).
GROUP H
FC Barcelona
AC Milan
Viktoria Plzen
Bate Borisov
In the last group the current champions, Barcelona, have three Brazilians in their ranks, both who will be playing for the Selecao in two weeks: Daniel Alves and Adriano. Also at Barcelona is Maxwell who suffered an injury in the pre season but he is coming back. If Barcelona have only defensive Brazilians, AC Milan have the Brazilian attacking power with Robinho and Pato as well as defensive midfielder Thiago Silva. Playing for BATE Borisov is Renan Bressan, he was the Belarusian Premier League top scorer last year and also elected best midfielder of the season. Bressan holds a Belarusian nationality and is eligible to play for their national team.
