Thursday’s Champions League draw brought Europe's and, indeed, the world's biggest club competition back into focus. Starting September 13, 32 teams from 17 nations will fight it out to qualify for the final of the 24th edition of the Champions League, to be held at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, in May.
While the likes of Leicester City will be breathing a sigh of relief after the draw, it was a Groundhog Day again for Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach as Group C – featuring these two teams alongside Barcelona and Scottish champions Celtic – seems like the toughest one on paper.
There are mouth-watering clashes elsewhere, as French champions Paris Saint-Germain square off against Arsenal, Bayern Munich look to avenge last season’s semi-final loss to Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid take on a new andnrevamped Borussia Dortmund in an explosive clash, and Serie A heavyweights Juventus take on Europa League holders Sevilla.
Group A: Paris Saint-Germain (France), Arsenal (England), Basel (Switzerland), Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria)
It has been a summer of upheaval at the Parc-des-Princes as both manager Laurent Blanc and talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic, for long the twin identities of the team, have departed. Unai Emery, who led Sevilla to three straight Europa Leagues, and Edinson Cavani are expected to step into their shoes as PSG seek the one trophy still missing from their cabinet. Emery’s appointment is a strategic one from the Qatari owners as the Spaniard is one of the world’s best managers in knockout competitions.
They will come up against Arsenal, bolstered by the recent arrivals of Lucas Perez from Deportivo La Coruna and Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia, who will look to upset PSG’s apple-cart and claim top spot in the group for themselves.
Basel have been known for causing the odd upset as Arsene Wenger will not take the trip to St Jakob Park lightly. Ludogorets, the Bulgarian champions, are making only their second appearance in their group stage after 2014-'15 where they had incidentally faced Basel.
Our Prediction: PSG and the Gunners should qualify for the group stage, with the French champions expected to top the group.
Group B: Benfica (Portugal), Napoli (Italy), Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine), Besiktas (Turkey)
Maurizio Sarri and his Napoli side must be very satisfied with what appears to be one of the easier groups to negotiate for the Serie A runners-up. Replacing Gonzalo Higuian, who scored 36 goals for the Partenopei last season, with the inconsistent Arkadiusz Milik seems to be the plan for Sarri.
With Marek Hamsik, Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon all supporting Milik, progression should not be difficult for the men from Naples. Benfica have sold Renato Sanches and Nicolas Gaitan during the summer window, and must look to replace them adequately as Rui Vitoria has brought in Konstaninos Mitroglou to play upfront alongside experienced Brazilian Jonas.
Dynamo Kyiv, first in the Ukrainian Premier League last season, play a fast counter-attacking game using their wingers, and are contesting in the group stage for the 14th time. Turkey is never an easy place to go for European opposition as Besiktas will look to make things difficult for all opposition in their first appearance in the tournament since 2009-'10.
Our Prediction: Napoli should win the group, as Benfica may edge a tight three-way battle for the second spot.
Group C: Barcelona (Spain), Manchester City (England), Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany), Celtic (Scotland)
Pep Guardiola will be returning to the Nou Camp as City’s manager and this group stage will be the perfect barometer for the club’s progress under him. Barcelona, with the best front trio in the business – Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi – will take some stopping.
There is no disputing the fact that City will possess a greater threat against Guardiola, but will his tactical acumen be enough to stop his former club? The onus will also be on securing top spot in order to avoid the top teams in the next round.
Monchengladbach, drawn against City for the second successive year, are a side full of tactical surprises and will try and make life difficult for Guardiola, who is familiar with the Foals from his stint in the Bundesliga. Celtic, managed by ex-Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, struggled to get through the qualification rounds and could be sitting ducks for the other three.
Our Prediction: The Spanish champions should come first, followed by City, who will expect to be pushed by Gladbach all the way.
Group D: Bayern Munich (Spain), Atletico Madrid (Spain), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Rostov (Russia)
In all the humdrum surrounding the Premier League clubs, Bayern Munich’s status as a contender must not be forgotten. They will come up against Atleti, who eliminated the Bavarian giants in the semi-final before losing a second final in three years. Under new coach Carlo Ancelotti, Bayern, with the key signings of Euro 2016 winner Renato Sanches and World Cup winner Mats Hummels, will look to stamp their authority on the group.
Philip Cocu’s PSV, a team based on possession play, narrowly lost out to Atletico in the round of 16 on penalties after their tie had ended goal-less. Rostov eliminated highly fancied Ajax in the playoffs and will be one of two Champions League debutants, alongside English champions Leicester City.
Our Prediction: Group D is almost too close to call. Atletico to finish first, just edging out Bayern Munich into second place.
Group E: CSKA Moscow (Russia), Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Tottenham Hotspur (England), Monaco (France)
Mauricio Pochettino will fully expect to qualify from this group, having finished third in last season’s Premier League. Harry Kane and Co. will come up against two other teams who finished third in their respective leagues – Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and Monaco in France.
Roger Schmidt and his Leverkusen team have been praised for their Uber-charged, Gegen-pressing style, very similar to Tottenham in the way that the team press from the front. Their matches against Spurs should make for a lip-smacking affair.
CSKA are more of a defensive side who tend to sit very deep and it will be very interesting to see the tactics that both Schmidt and Pochettino use in their matches against the Russians. Monaco, who had their highest Champions League finish of second in 2003-'04, will try and remain competitive after eliminating Spanish side Villareal in the play-offs.
Our Prediction: Tottenham should take first spot ahead of a very talented Leverkusen team.
Group F: Real Madrid (Spain), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Sporting Lisbon (Portugal), Legia Warsaw (Poland)
Holders Real Madrid will be aiming for a record 12th title in Europe’s premier club competition. Unlike other summers, there has been no flurry of activity at Madrid, as Alvaro Morata was the only major signing from Juventus, after Real activated their buy-back clause.
They will be wary of their biggest opposition in the group stage, as Dortmund had thrashed the Spanish club by a margin of four goals to one en route to the final in 2012-'13. Thomas Tuchel, who finished second in his first Bundesliga season, has rebuilt well after losing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Ilkay Gundogan and Mats Hummels.
Cristiano Ronaldo will face boyhood club Sporting, who finished second in the Portuguese Liga with a midfield trio of Euro winners – William Carvalho, Andre Silva and Joao Mario – who will test both Dortmund and Real. Legia Warsaw, from Poland, will be competing in the Champions League after a gap of 20 years, last taking part in the 1995-'96 competition.
Our Prediction: Dortmund will pose a serious threat to the defending champions and might just pip Real to the first spot in the group.
Group G: Leicester City (England), Porto (Portugal), Club Brugge (Belgium), Copenhagen (Denmark)
The Leicester fairytale looks like it could continue for some more time as the Foxes drew a relatively benign group. Claudio Ranieri must still find a way to break down defensive sides as his side’s counter-attacking approach has been well documented after a miraculous Premier League triumph.
Porto, the 2003 champions, are always dangerous at the continental level and put Italians Roma to the sword in a 4-1 win at the playoff stage. Manager Nuno has made six summer signings, including the highly-rated Laurent Depoitre from Belgian side Gent, and will fancy a crack at the English champions.
Club Brugge and Copenhagen, the champions of Belgium and Denmark respectively, will be well-marshalled but will realistically be playing for third in the group and a Europa League place.
Our Prediction: Porto’s quality will prevail in this group while Leicester could be playing catch-up. Porto to finish first and Leicester second.
Group H: Juventus (Italy), Sevilla (Spain), Lyon (France), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
The Italian champions lost Paul Pogba to Manchester United, but snapped up the best players from their local rivals. The additions of Miralem Pjanic from Roma and Gonzalo Higuain from Napoli could mean that the Old Lady makes the Serie A a distinctly one-horse race and thus allows Juve to put their best foot forward in the Champions League.
Sevilla have won the Europa League three times in a row, but have struggled in the Champions League. They will look to rectify this statistic under new manager Jorge Sampaoli, who is known to be a bit of a tactical maverick, as he used a 3-3-1-3 formation in his first game in charge.
Lyon, having finished second in the French Ligue 1, have done well to retain the services of Alexandre Lacazette and play an entertaining 4-3-3 under Bruno Genesio. Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb did defeat Arsenal last season, but face an uphill task in qualifying out of this group.
Our Prediction: Juventus should win this group, with Sevilla close behind in second.
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