Champions League draw results 2015: Group H shouldn’t even exist

For the most part, the Champions League group stage draw turned out just fine. Some groups are stronger than others, but most feature a top tier team and one or two second-tier teams. There’s no truly absurd group of death where one of the top eight or so teams in Europe is getting ousted. But there is Group H, in which even the winner will have a very hard time making the quarterfinals.

Zenit St. Petersburg, Valencia, Lyon and Gent are all perfectly respectable teams, but they’re all the types of sides who are usually in a tight scrap between second and third place. Instead of that, two of them will progress, with one getting a very favorable draw. All because UEFA decided the champions of Russia need to be a top seed.

If Zenit don’t lose Axel Witsel over the next five days, they might be able to salvage this draw and put together a decent showing. They do still have Hulk and a variety of experienced veterans at all positions. But they’re a pretty thin side, and lacking in true top-end talent if Witsel leaves. His departure might bump them down to third, actually -- if this group has one redeeming quality, it’s that the games should be close.

Los Che have a good squad, but they struggled to fourth in La Liga last season and didn’t look terrific in their opening match against Rayo Vallecano. Almost all of their transfer budget was spent on making loan deals permanent, rather than bringing in reinforcements. They’re a lot like Zenit in that they have a lot of very good players, but not much top quality.

In a welcome departure from our predicted top two, Lyon have some players who are potentially world class and some starters who are totally clownshoes. Their matches are, if nothing else, quite a bit of fun to watch. The forward pair of Nabil Fekir and Alexandre Lacazette is wildly entertaining, while Yacine Benzia could step up this year and Mathieu Valbuena is a great acquisition. Their defense certainly isn’t awful, but it’s clearly worse than Zenit and Valencia’s

It’s entirely possible that we’re underrating the Belgian champions, who didn’t lose any big stars in the transfer window. Laurent Depoitre was one of Belgium’s top scorers last season, while Thomas Foket and Benito Raman have featured for the Under-21 national team recently. Renato Neto is a solid central midfielder, while Nigerian international Moses Simon is very entertaining. There’s enough quality here for them to challenge in a weak group, but there’s also no reason to pick them anything but last.

If we’re searching for positives in this draw, it’s nice that Fekir won’t get shut down by elite teams. He’s a joy to watch, and in a group this week, he’ll get plenty of the ball.

This should establish a group favorite instantly.