With the national championships already underway, the only thing separating us from the true start of the football season is the UEFA Champions League tournament. The strongest trophy of the Old Continent, which never lacks surprises, will once again attract enormous attention this year. The revitalized Madrid "Real", the reborn "Barcelona" and "Liverpool" clubs, and last year's finalist "Atletico" promise intriguing years. "EuroFootball.com" helps you look ahead to what to expect from the upcoming season.
Group E: Munich's "Bayern", "Manchester City", Moscow's "CSKA", "AS Roma". Almost like déjà vu - the champions of Germany, England, and Russia will face off in the same group for the second year in a row. However, this time, the spotlight will not be on Plzen's "Viktoria", but on Italy's vice-champion "Roma". Group E truly looks like one of the strongest, as Munich's "Bayern" and "Man City" have strengthened even more during the offseason, and Roma is probably the strongest team in the fourth pot. Moscow's "CSKA" finished fourth in the first stage last year and then had to fight a modest Czech team. Therefore, this year the prospects for Russian teams look even worse.
The main fight, as in the previous season, should revolve around first place and a relatively easier opponent in the quarterfinals, but "Roma" is not just Plzen's "Viktoria". The Italian team is strong enough to take points from both English and German teams. Perhaps "Roma" will even have a serious shot at reaching the next stage of the tournament.
Group F: "FC Barcelona", "Paris Saint-Germain", Amsterdam's "Ajax", Nicosia's "APOEL". This group features champions of three countries and the Spanish powerhouse "Barcelona", who have strengthened their squad during the summer transfer window. Although they did not win their national championship, they are favored to advance to the knockout stages. The Catalan team will face tough competition from the French champions "Paris Saint-Germain", who, despite financial restrictions, have not weakened during the offseason. The main contender for third place is the strongest Dutch club, "Ajax". It is doubtful that the Cypriot team "APOEL" will be able to surpass them. It is unlikely that this modest team will make it to the quarterfinals. The fact that this summer all but one of APOEL's players were acquired for free, and only Tomas De Vincenti cost Piraeus "Olympiacos" just 500 thousand euros, says a lot.
Group G: London's "Chelsea", Gelsenkirchen's "Schalke 04", Lisbon's "Sporting", "NK Maribor". Group G, or better known as the "Chelsea" group. Looking at the names of the teams in this group, one immediately wants to give the first place to the London club. Moreover, the "aristocrats" have been demonstrating great performance both on and off the field: they have won three out of three games in the Premier League, and they even crushed Liverpool's "Everton" 6-3 on the road. If "Chelsea" maintains this pace until winter, they will not face any worthy opponents in the group. The opponents themselves do not seem impressive at first glance. Last season, Schalke finished third in Germany and lagged behind the champions by 26 points, Sporting is only the second Portuguese team, and Maribor are the champions of Slovenia, but their budget is very modest.
The Lisbon team might surprise. They have managed to keep the core of their team intact and have brought in Nani on loan from Manchester United and acquired several newcomers. The Portuguese should pose a serious challenge to Schalke. The key players of this group have also not been lost, so it is difficult to say which team will take second place in the group. As for Maribor, their fate is almost clear - the Slovenians' chances of competing with the big European clubs are greatly reduced due to their limited budget.
Group H: "Porto", Donetsk's "Shakhtar", Bilbao's "Athletic", Borisov's "BATE". "Porto", like the other Portuguese team Benfica, has not landed in the strongest group. Although they had a poor season last year and finished third in the national league, they have excellent chances of advancing to the next stage of the Champions League this year. "Porto" lost some key players in the off-season, but the club has added a bunch of talented players, including Christian Tello, Bruno Martins Indi, and Adrian Lopez. Due to unrest in the country, the Ukrainian champions Donetsk "Shakhtar" will face the season depleted.
Several foreign players refuse to return to the team, and their stadium was recently damaged. "Shakhtar" will play their home matches in Lviv. Therefore, their prospects in Europe do not inspire much hope. Borisov's "BATE" from Belarus is not a team that has the talent to make it to the next stage. Perhaps this year they will fight for the third place, but reaching the tournament itself is already a great result.
For first place, Bilbao, which finished fourth in La Liga last year, is likely to challenge "Porto". In the playoffs, the Basques defeated "Napoli" and proved to be a tough nut to crack even for a team that collected 12 points in the group stage last year and defeated "Arsenal" and "Borussia" teams.
