The most awaited club competition in Europe is back as the 2016/17 Champions League group stage kicks off on 13 September, Tuesday. 32 teams who entered the draw have been drawn into eight groups and fans will get to see some sumptuous fixtures on Matchday 1 itself.
Usually, one group stands out as the toughest of the lot; the so-called ‘Group of Death’. However, this time, we may see at least two such groups with teams leaving no stone unturned in their bid to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.
Trending
Here are five things we can expect before the group stage is done and dusted.
1) Manchester City could get a favourable result against Barcelona
In his three years in the Bundesliga, Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich were knocked out of the Champions League in the semi-final stage all three times. To make matters worse, every opponent who eventually knocked them out were La Liga sides (Real Madrid in 2014, Barcelona in 2015 and Atletico Madrid in 2016). A side that won the treble in 2013 had failed to reach the final and the Catalan manager did take a lot of the blame even though they were winning league titles at a canter.
This time, Guardiola returns to the Camp Nou with a different club and a new squad that has already taken to Guardiola’s tactics like a duck to water. Even if the Premier League is only four rounds old at this point, they are top of the league and look unstoppable, even if Guardiola says it won’t be enough in Europe.
“If you ask me whether we are ready to compete in Europe, we are not ready,” Guardiola said. “We create, but in front, we need more. But it is just two months together, so we have time to get better.”
Drawn in a group with Barcelona, Celtic and Borussia Monchengladbach, it certainly is a group of death if there ever was one. But City and Barcelona are expected to go through.
Barcelona, themselves, do not look up to the mark so far. A La Liga defeat to Alaves at home may be attributed to Luis Enrique starting a second-string side but it’s the vulnerable back-line that the Catalan club needs to worry about. And with the firepower at Guardiola’s disposal, one would fancy City to even get all three points in one of the fixtures.
2) Leicester City can reach the knockout stages
Don’t even bother looking at the odds on Leicester City winning the Champions League. Winning the Premier League with 5000/1 odds last season was a miracle but it had a lot to do with the other big teams simply falling behind.
That will not be the case in the Champions League. And having lost their influential midfielder N’Golo Kante to Chelsea, Claudio Ranieri’s side have not exactly had the best start to a league title defence since... Chelsea last season.
The Foxes look a shadow of the side that lost only three games last season. But it would not be wise to rule them out of qualifying for the Round of 16. The club may have never played in the Champions League but Ranieri has managed six clubs in the competition.
Leicester were lucky to avoid the heavyweights in the draw and Porto represent their biggest threat in the group stage. Club Brugge may have won the Belgian league last season but they, too, have had a terrible start to their season (7 points from 6 games) and look far from playing like champions. FC Copenhagen are a wildcard too and have only just returned to the Champions League after missing out in the last two seasons.
3) Bayern Munich vs Atletico Madrid is the fixture to watch
PSV Eindhoven and FC Rostov might as well start drawing up plans on how to beat each other to ensure they finish third and qualify for the Europa League knockout stages. It is highly unlikely that Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich will slip up in the group stages.
Two-time finalists in the last three years, Atletico Madrid will be hurting after two losses to arch rivals Real in the 2014 and 2016 finals. Diego Simeone’s future seemed uncertain at the time but he has committed to the Rojiblancos. And after a brief hiccup at the start of the season, Atletico seem to be flying high, smashing four past a hapless Celta Vigo last weekend.
Bayern Munich, on the other hand, look a different animal under new boss Carlo Ancelotti. A serial winner of Champions League titles (he has won five as player and coach), he has already set up Bayern to play a lot more free-flowing football and has a variety of options to give him a selection headache.
Simeone is a familiar foe after having battled with him in Madrid derbies and the 2014 final. And Bayern will be out for revenge following the semi-final defeat last season. Ancelotti, too, is keen to make a point – even stating that Bayern were one of many teams who could win the title this year.
4) Arsenal and PSG to cruise into the Round of 16 – but who will top?
For the first time, in a long time, Arsenal have a favourable draw in the group stages – as long as they don’t mess it up like they usually do. Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain are the single biggest threat to the Gunners topping the group and avoiding a heavyweight in the Round of 16 – something they have failed to do in recent years, ending up with Barcelona and Bayern Munich twice.
In what could be Arsene Wenger’s final season, the north London club will target top spot in Group A but they face off with PSG on Matchday 1. The French club may be domestic powerhouses but have so far failed to make a dent in Europe.
Both teams are struggling defensively in the league and we could see goals galore if they carry the same form into Europe. PSG simply do not look the formidable side without Zlatan Ibrahimovic spearheading the attack and Edinson Cavani is yet to get going this season.
Arsenal, too, are slowly getting back on track following the return of their key players to the starting lineup. But they look far from an unbeatable side that can take the league and Europe by storm.
But up against FC Basel and Ludogorets Razgrad, Arsenal and PSG should comfortably sail through.
5) Juventus to dominate the group stage?
One look at all eight groups and it is easy to see why Juventus seem to be the biggest favourites to top their group. Every group has at least two teams who will battle it out for top spot except for Group H.
Juventus are drawn with Europa League winners Sevilla, Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb. While Sevilla may have earned the right to play in the Champions League, the loss of three-time Europa League winning coach Unai Emery to PSG and the high-scoring Kevin Gameiro to Atletico Madrid does not inspire confidence.
On the other hand, Juventus have strengthened their squad with signings around the park to make them a very frightening prospect in the Serie A and Champions League. Paul Pogba and Alvaro Morata may be gone but Gonzalo Higuain, Miralem Pjanic, Dani Alves, Medhi Benatia, Marko Pjaca and Juan Cuadrado (on an outrageous three-year loan deal) have come in. Their squad is so strong that even their second-string side could compete in the Champions League.
Lyon will be without striker Alexandre Lacazette who is “out for a few weeks” while Dinamo Zagreb are not expected to put up much of a fight when they travel. With Serie A success pretty much guaranteed, the Old Lady will focus on the Champions League and try and move one step further than their 2015 final loss to Barcelona.
