Breakfast of Champions

“Symbols can be so beautiful, sometimes.” 

― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

For Milan fans, probably nothing is more beautiful than the Champions League trophy adorned with the red and black ribbons. Our European heritage is rich and decorated, with seven Champions League trophies to our name. So despite the Summer of Doom™ and the resulting despair amongst fans, there is still a twinge of excitement as we prepare to learn our fate in the Group Stage Draw of the UEFA Champions League. In much of the world, this will be during the afternoon or evening, but for me, I will hear the news over breakfast. So please enjoy this Breakfast of Champions. (Post will be updated with the draw as quickly as possible)

American culture meets European Royalty

“We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.” 

― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

Let’s be frank, the goal of getting out of the group stage of the Champions League this season may be lofty. Today will tell more, perhaps the draw will favor us. Even still, competing on multiple fronts is going to be very difficult with such a young squad, and a squad of players who mostly have little to no Champions League experience. So we face this draw with the sober reality that there will most likely be no trophy this year. And yet we have a moral obligation to do our best, both for our pride and for the Italian coefficient. We still represent our storied club and the team’s native country, and so we will put everything we can into the competition.

“in nonsense is strength” 

― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

Still, the temptation to look at the teams in the various pots and wonder if… what if, we get this team and that team and pull it off? What if the big teams happen to fall to a lesser team and are eliminated, paving the way for us to truly compete? It’s ridiculous, but as 7 time champions, how can we not speculate? How can we not prepare for the worst, but hope for the best? There truly is strength in this nonsense, if we never dared to dream, we’d never fight to win. And so, we face the draw with hope in our hearts, if only the smallest amount, wanting the best result and maybe a little bit of luck.

The spheres of fate

It is hard to adapt to chaos, but it can be done. I am living proof of that: It can be done.” 

― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

So here lies our fate, within the small spheres drawn out of large bowls our fate will be selected. As we wait for the draw, feel free to speculate the best and worst case scenarios. Will we meet the irony of facing PSG? By being seeded in pot 1, we have blessed ourselves with the fortune not to meet up with the biggest clubs in this round. So speculate, hyperventilate, whatever suits you. Within hours our fate will be known, and then it will be up to our boys to do the rest. Forza Milan!

Pot 1

Chelsea FC

FC Barcelona

Manchester United FC

FC Bayern München

Real Madrid CF

Arsenal FC

FC Porto

AC Milan

Pot 2

Valencia FC

SL Benfica

FC Shakhtar Donetsk

FC Zenit St. Petersburg

FC Schalke 04

Manchester City FC

SC Braga

FC Dynamo Kyiv

Pot 3

Olympiacos FC

AFC Ajax

RSC Anderlecht

Juventus

FC Spartak Moskva

Paris Saint-Germain FC

LOSC Lille

Galatasaray AS

Pot 4

Celtic FC

Borussia Dortmund

FC BATE Borisov

GNK Dinamo Zagreb

CFR 1907 Cluj

Málaga CF

Montpellier Hérault SC

FC Nordsjaelland

Milan will play in Group C

FC Zenit St. Petersburg
RSC Anderlecht
Málaga CF

This post inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s “Breakfast of Champions”

Our next match is

Bologna vs. Milan

Saturday, September 1 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)