And so it begins again. Club football’s elite competition, its showpiece event, its pièce de résistance, if you will. The Champions League.
As it kicks off properly (the qualifying rounds don’t count) tomorrow, it is time for me to make my predictions for the group stage. I have a poor record when it comes to making predictions, which discouraged me. I also know bugger all about a good number of these teams, which discouraged me. Did I heed this discouragement? I did not.
Group A
Winners: Bayern Munich aren’t the reigning European champions by accident. They will top their group with ease.
Runners-up: Atletico Madrid look pretty good this year. Always tough to play against, they’ve added Luis Suarez to their ranks this season and he’s started well paired with Diego Costa. More than good enough to qualify.
Third: Red Bull Salzburg play good football and can be dangerous if you lower your guard, as Liverpool discovered when they visited Anfield last season. Since then though they’ve lost Minamino to the Reds and Erling Braut Haaland to Borussia Dortmund, and I expect that they won’t have anywhere near the quality needed to qualify.
Fourth: Lokomotiv Moscow won’t be good enough.
Group B
Winners: Real Madrid, captained by a player in Sergio Ramos who I CAN’T STAND, are the record winners of Europe’s premier club competition. They aren’t quite now what they were a few years ago but are still very good and will likely top their group.
Runners-up: Inter Milan. I have no idea what Antonio Conte’s plan is for Inter. Pretty much all his signings are well into their thirties, and a number of them are pretty mediocre (cough, Ashley Young, cough cough). They will most likely eke out qualification, but I fear for them long-term.
Third: Borussia Monchengladbach (I spelt that correctly first time, by the way) did well to qualify for Europe and appear a decent side but will have a tough time finishing ahead of either of the two listed above.
Fourth: Shakhtar Donetsk are in Europe every year, and usually go out in the round of 16. I doubt they’ll make it that far this year though given a very tough group.
Group C
Winners: Manchester City have been given (as usual) an easy group from which they can go again in their quest to win the European Cup. Teflon Pep will likely overthink the knockout stages again, but this is the group. They always win that.
Runners-up: Marseille were having an excellent season last year when the Ligue 1 season was curtailed by Covid-19. They have started satisfactorily this time around and I expect them to scrape into the knockout stages.
Third: Olympiakos seem similarly solid but lacking in top-level ability. They did knock (an admittedly lacklustre) Arsenal out of the Europa League last season though, making them hard to predict. I wouldn’t rule them out of qualifying.
Fourth: Porto are like Shakhtar. They are in Europe every year and usually do alright but aren’t good enough to mix it with top opposition.
Group D
Winners: Liverpool have just (devastatingly) lost Virgil van Dijk to an ACL injury, and will initially at least also without the crocked Alisson. Their quality though will still see them top what appears to be a very fun and attack-minded group. The Front Three have never failed the Reds yet.
Runners-up: Atalanta look to be a great watch. They play at 100 miles an hour and score a ridiculous amount of goals – 14 in just four Serie A games so far this season. They can be dodgy at the back though – having let in nine in the same period – which will ultimately cost them against teams like Liverpool. The games between those two guarantee goals.
Third: Ajax are arguably Europe’s greatest talent factory, and on the back of this enjoyed a fantastic run to the semis two seasons ago. Since then however they have been asset-stripped, with Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong (above) two of the most notable departures.
Fourth: Midtjylland will not be able to mix it with the other three. In lieu of hope though I can offer a piece or trivia: throw-in coach Thomas Grønnemark works or has worked at Liverpool, Ajax, and Midtjylland.
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