Thursday Evening. Check. Monaco. Check. Late August. Check. That could only mean it was the Champions League draw yesterday and it has produced some absolutely tasty groups for the regular football fan to salivate over.
Real Madrid are seeking to become the first team to retain the European Cup title in successive years in the Champions League era, while Atletico Madrid are looking to go one better. Coaches Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola would love to add another Champions League winners medal to their cabinets (and CVs), with different teams in Chelsea and Bayern Munich. The fact is that there are so many teams that fancy their chances this year that it is nearly impossible to determine a true favourite at this stage.
Alas, this leads to a preview of who will do well and not so well in this two part special on the Champions League draw. Groups E-H predictions will be available to savour on Saturday—something to read when it’s half time.
GROUP A—ATLETICO MADRID, JUVENTUS, OLYMPIAKOS, MALMO
Atletico Madrid were just minutes away from winning their first ever Champions League trophy last season, before Ramos equalised for rivals Real Madrid in the 93rd minute. Extra time was to become a traumatic onslaught for Simeone’s side; they eventually lost 4-1. This time Atletico have got some new faces in to replace the La Liga winning old guard. Mario Mandzukic, a Champions League winner with Bayern Munich in 2013, will lead a front line of a well organised squad.
However, Juventus will provide a huge challenge for the Madrid side in regards to who will top the group. The winners of Serie A will certainly want to make up for their disappointment of not getting out of the group stage last season. They have the potential to storm the group and go on an impressive run in the knockout stages too. Their attack is fronted by Carlos Tevez and Fernando Llorente, with a midfield consisting of Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and Claudio Marchisio—certainly not just the defensive football that is stereotypically seen from an Italian side.
Olympiakos should not be discredited that much, but they will not have the firepower of taking them past this stage. Malmo could end up with no points on the board.
PREDICTION: 1st Juventus 2nd Atletico Madrid 3rd Olympiakos 4th Malmo
GROUP B—REAL MADRID, FC BASEL, LIVERPOOL, LUDOGORETS
Very simple to predict. Real Madrid will top the group. Easily and with sixteen points. The only time they will falter is when they are at Anfield, and even then Los Blancos should escape with a draw. Real Madrid accomplished “La Decima” by the skin of their teeth last season, but this team will continue to grow to know each other under Carlo Ancelotti once again. It will also be exciting to see if Colombian superstar James Rodriguez can steal the show from Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale.
Liverpool will finish second in their group. They will definitely miss Luis Suarez, and the signing of Mario Balotelli will definitely fail to cause the same impact on the pitch as the Uruguayian. The team is also largely inexperienced at this elite level of competition. Yet neither Basel nor Ludogorets have the talent to displace them from a second place spot which seems destined to be theirs.
FC Basel should cause them a few problems — they beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last season — but one cannot see lightning striking twice here. Bulgarian unit Ludogorets will have captured the hearts of Europe in qualifying after Cosman Moti’s performance in the penalty shootout, but their Hollywood story will end abruptly and without a point.
PREDICTION: 1st Real Madrid 2nd Liverpool 3rd FC Basel 4th Ludogorets
GROUP C: BENFICA, ZENIT ST PETERSBURG, BAYER LEVERKUSEN, MONACO
This has to be the most intriguing group in the Champions League in terms of unpredictability. Any one of these four teams could top the group and any one of these four teams could be without European football at the beginning of 2015.
Benfica are the unlucky losers of European football. They lost in yet another European final (eight finals in a row to be precise) last summer as Sevilla took the Europa League trophy back to Spain. Losing Markovic and Cardozo will be blows to their attack, but they do have a decent defence with the likes of Maxi Pereira, Luisao and Lisandro Lopez guarding Julio Cesar in goal.
Zenit St Petersburg have to be considered dark horses for the entire competition. Much maligned (at least in England) manager Andre Villas-Boas has actually created a winning mentality in the Russian side by winning their first five games in the Russian Premier Division this season. They have plenty of experience in their side too with the likes of Hulk and Kerzakhov guaranteeing goals for their team.
Monaco may have lost James Rodriguez to Real Madrid, and plenty of the side are highly inexperienced at this level, but they do have one weapon which will scare teams. Radamel Falcao will be looking to re-introduce himself to the footballing world after missing out on the World Cup this summer. Bayer Leverkusen have definitely got a solid spine to their squad with the addition of Josep Drmic from Nuremburg adding some much needed firepower.
PREDICTION: 1st Zenit St Petersburg 2nd Benfica 3rd Monaco 4th Bayer Leverkusen
GROUP D: ARSENAL, BORUSSIA DORTMUND, GALATASARAY, ANDERLECHT
Arsenal and Dortmund meet in the group stage. Again. For the third time in four years. Yawn. Needless to say, there will be a tussle between these two sides to see who finishes top of the group.
The Gunners have bought quite a few players over the course of the summer, but none more important than Alexis Sanchez. The former Barcelona forward will add a vital piece to Arsenal’s offence and will alleviate some of the pressure off Olivier Giroud’s shoulders. A talented midfield and a solid defence to boot—Arsenal has to be considered the favourites to top this group by a small margin.
Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund side made the Champions League final two years ago, and as seen with Atletico Madrid’s performance last season too, that dark horses should never be underestimated. Dortmund beat Arsenal to topping their group last year by goal difference and still have a lot of last year’s team in their books. The biggest difference will be up front where Robert Lewandowski has departed for Bavarian rivals Bayern Munich. However, Ciro Immobile should be a more than adequate replacement for the Polish talismanic striker.
Both Galatasaray and Anderlecht will fail to provide many problems for the top two teams in Group D. Galatasaray does have Yilmaz up front and the creativity of Wesley Sneijder; these two players should be able to help them into the Europa League. And in their defence, they did knock Juventus out of the competition in the group stage last season. Meanwhile New manager Cesar Prandelli can also get the best out of average players as seen with Italy’s Euro 2012 campaign.
PREDICTION: 1st Arsenal 2nd Borussia Dortmund 3rd Galatasaray 4th Anderlecht
Thanks for reading! You can follow me on twitter – @BrodSutherland. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at r/football.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at sports injury alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for? GO!
