The Champions League is the biggest competition in all of club football, and the eyes of the world are inevitably attracted to the quality of football showcased by some of the greatest players in the world.
All of the clubs in this contest can all play some fantastic football, but not all of them have the privilege of lifting the trophy and calling themselves Europe’s finest. Making a statement in the group stage will definitely help their case amongst bookies and give them better Champions League 2018 betting odds.
The question now is this: do you think your club will come out of the group stages at the top? Or will you see them suffer bitter losses on the way to making an early exit in the prestigious tournament?
Honouring the Galactic Talents of Real Madrid
While many are already looking forward to seeing Kaka and Diego Forlan pick which teams will play which, Europe’s governing body gave honour to the players that shook Europe with every footstep they made on the pitch.
Unsurprisingly, all of them came from Real Madrid. While some may roll their eyes at the sweep, you cannot really blame UEFA for putting all their individual honours in one basket.
Keylor Navas did cede 13 goals in his 11 starts, but that’s more of a testament to the quality of opposing attackers rather than his own credentials as a keeper. Liverpool and Egypt fans will continue to curse Sergio Ramos under their breath, but they cannot deny his pedigree as a defender. Luka Modric was so good last season that he won Midfielder of the Year and stole the Men’s Player of the Year honours from Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah. We don’t even need to talk Ronaldo up at this point: the Portuguese star is so good that people expect him to succeed wherever he goes.
Now that the past is done and dealt with, we can now look at the coming Champions League 2018 highlights and discuss the groups one by one.
Group A: Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, AS Monaco, Club Brugge
Atletico Madrid are looking as sharp as ever. After managing to tie down star man and World Cup champion Antoine Griezmann for the foreseeable future and making a good league run, they will be dangerous opponents for the rest of the table.
Borussia Dortmund are also going to be a tough club to play, and their overwhelming victory over RB Leipzig should have sent a message. AS Monaco won’t be as loud as these two, but they also have quality players that can catch opponents with their pants down. Club Brugge didn’t play European football last season, but they will try their best to upset their bigger opponents.
Group B: Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur, PSV, Inter Milan
Lionel Messi doesn’t make big claims or promise anything to the adoring supporters of his club, so you can imagine the delight of everyone at the Camp Nou when he promised to bring back the title to Catalonia.
There’s no doubt that they are favourites to finish top of the group, meaning that the rest of the pack will have to settle for second fiddle. Tottenham are tipped by bookies like SBOBET to finish next to the Blaugrana, but Inter and PSV have more than enough talent to mug them off.
Group C: Paris Saint-Germain, SSC Napoli, Liverpool, Red Star Belgrade
This is a tough group to call as each of these teams can finish top of the table.
Paris Saint-Germain have the supreme attacking talents of Neymar and Edinson Cavani to go with a solid midfield and defence. Napoli look fresh and dangerous with Carlo Ancelotti taking over for Maurizio Sarri. Liverpool have their famous three-pronged attacking scheme that has taken the entire footballing landscape by storm. Red Star Belgrade is a quiet outfit that could pull off upsets if the other three aren’t careful enough.
Who will top this group? No one knows.
Group D: Lokomotiv Moskva, FC Porto, FC Schalke, Galatasaray AS
Group D should be fun to watch for a different set of reasons.
Not a single one of the clubs in this list have a real shot of making it to the Champions League final, but all of they have enough quality to win games and somewhat put the other teams on a bit of a workout. There’s no clear winner on this group, and everyone has a shot of making it to the knockout stages.
The smiling reaction of the Galatasaray delegation after learning they joined Group D says all you need to know.
Group E: Bayern Munich, SL Benfica, AFC Ajax, AEK Athens FC
Like Barca in Group B, Bayern Munich look as indomitable as ever and will be easy favourites to win this group. It will be up to the three remaining teams to duke it out for the last knockout spot.
Ajax have the greatest shot at making it past the group stages alongside Bayern, but Benfica also have the experience of beating equal-level competition and making it to the Last 16. Meanwhile, Athens must be happy that they could at least have Bayern Munich play in their city.
Group F: Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk, Olympique Lyonnais, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Manchester City are pretty much untouchable in this group, and I don’t think anyone can nudge them off from the top spot of Group F. The second knockout spot of this group may end up becoming a tight contest between Olympique Lyonnais and Champions League debutants Hoffenheim.
Group G: Real Madrid, AS Roma, CSKA Moskva, FC Viktoria Plzen
Real Madrid and AS Roma are pretty much locked into place, and it will be up to both CSKA Moskva and Viktoria Plzen to turn the tides and unlikely send these two giants packing in the group stages.
This means that the big battle will be which of the two giants will sit at the top. Real Madrid are the obvious favourites, but Roma did dispatch a full-strength Barcelona team last season. This might happen again.
Group H: Juventus, Manchester United, Valencia, BSC Young Boys
Old Trafford will see one of their old boys come home as Cristiano Ronaldo is set to visit Manchester for Juventus’ Champions League fixture. It will be a bittersweet experience for the fans, but they better hope that Jose Mourinho’s squad shows up for this game.
While Valencia and the Young Boys aren’t as big a threat as the Old Lady, they can still play some football. A positive result against Juventus should boost their chances of making it past the group stages and make it into the knockout rounds.
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