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The Champions League is back after a three-week break, and the biggest clubs in Europe would once more provide excitement for fans around the globe in their quest to be crowned the best team on the continent.
The Champions League is the grandest stage of club football in the world, as all the history associated with it gives it an extra special feel, and any player worth his salt wants to test himself on the UCL scene, as they would come up against the best players in the world.
Beyond being financially very rewarding, there is also a lot of prestige attached to being European champions, as such, all the clubs participating want to make it as far as possible in the tournament, and a group stage exit is almost impossible to think of for them.
However, the reality is that the new grouping system by UEFA pits some of the biggest clubs against one another in the group stage, and an underperformance by any of them would result in an early elimination from the UCL as was the case with Atletico Madrid last season and Chelsea in 2012.
Shocks and early exits are always thrown up in every edition of the Champions League, and this season would not be an exception. We present four big clubs who face the threat of elimination from the group stage if they fail to pick up a victory in the Champions League this week.
#4 Manchester United
Manchester United have been in topsy-turvy form this season, and they have faced a lot of stick for their lethargic performances, which sees them lie in 7th place on the Premier League table, and fans have bemoaned the dour and uninspiring football on display.
Marquee players such as Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba have struggled to hit the heights of previous years, while Marcus Rashford continues to blow hot and cold, and the defense has been in shambles as Mourinho has failed to stick with the same set of players long enough to build an understanding.
Their poor domestic form has also been transferred to the Champions League, and has seen The Red Devils pick up just four points from a possible nine, lying five points behind table-toppers Juventus.
They began their campaign with a 3-0 victory away in Switzerland to Young Boys, with captain on the night Paul Pogba registering a brace.
That match was followed up with a listless performance in a boring 0-0 draw with struggling Valencia at Old Trafford, and the Spaniards could indeed have left with all three points, but for their poor finishing.
A visit by Juventus led by former fan favorite Ronaldo ended in a 1-0 defeat, and put greater pressure heading into the return leg in Turin.
United head to Italy knowing that they must avoid defeat at all costs, and preferably pick up a victory, as a failure to do so could put their qualification hopes in jeopardy if Valencia pick up a victory against Young Boys.
#3 PSG
Financed by the billion-dollar backing of QSI, PSG have the two most expensive players of all time in Neymar and Mbappe, and it has long been expected that they would mount a serious challenge on the Champions League.
The Neymar project failed massively last season, as the Brazilian was powerless to stop the Parisians' elimination at the hands of Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid in the round of 16.
This season, they have not fared much better, falling to Liverpool in a 3-2 defeat at Anfield on the opening day, in a match which they were criticized for their spineless display.
They followed that up with a routine 6-0 victory over Crvena Zvezda at the Parc des Princes, before standing on the verge of losing their second match as they trailed Napoli for most of the match at home before snatching a last-gasp equalizer with Di Maria’s lovely curled effort in the second minute of injury time.
Heading into matchday 4, the French moneybags find themselves in third place on four points, two points behind Liverpool who travel to Serbia to face Crvena Zvezda, hence they must pick up victory in Naples today against Napoli, or face the potential of getting eliminated by next week if results go against them.
#2 Napoli
After the heartbreak of last season where the Pertenopei pushed Juventus all the way in the Scudetto race and recorded the highest point tally (91) for a team failing to win the Serie A, Napoli have begun life afresh following the appointment of Carlo Ancelotti to replace Maurizio Sarri who departed to Chelsea.
The 59-year-old is a renowned specialist in the completion, and is one of just nine men to have won it as a coach and player, as well as one of just three to have won it as a manager with two different clubs, and it was believed that he would bring his experience to bear on Napoli who haven’t triumphed in Europe since a Diego Maradona-led victory in the UEFA Cup of 1989.
The Neapolitans began their Champions League campaign with a rather uninspiring draw with Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade, before putting up one of the best performances so far as they defeated Liverpool 1-0 at the San Paolo stadium in a match which they totally outclassed the otherwise brilliant Liverpool, reducing them to spectators on the field, against their swashbuckling style.
In Paris on matchday 3, they stood on the verge of recording another impressive victory against PSG until they were denied by Di Maria in injury time.
Their match against PSG at the San Paolo carries extra significance now, as a failure to achieve victory would mean that they would fall further behind their rivals and could see them fail to make it out of what was termed the group of death.
#1 Tottenham Hotspur
The nearly men for so long in the Premier League – after their 2010 fairytale run in the UCL, Spurs finally cracked into the top four fully in 2015, and since then, they’ve not looked back, securing Champions League qualification every year since then.
They have however struggled to prove themselves among Europe’s elites, but impressively topped a group also containing seasoned campaigners Real Madrid and Dortmund, before falling to Juventus in the round of 16 in heartbreaking fashion.
Tottenham were expected to build on that and mount a serious assault on the latter stages this season, but they have thus far gone horribly off script.
Two losses to Inter Milan and Barcelona in their opening two matches of the season left them hanging precariously on the edge, but they were handed a lifeline, as the placement of the fixtures meant they faced perceived weak link in the group PSV in doubleheaders on matchday 3 and 4.
They travelled to Eindhoven on matchday 3 with the knowledge that anything other than victory would effectively rule them out of qualification, and looked on course to achieve that, but for a loss in concentration in the final minutes which allowed PSV to equalize (much like it was with Inter Milan on the opening day).
That stalemate leaves Tottenham in the position of having a must-win fixture at Wembley, as a failure to do so could see them eliminated as early as tonight depending on the outcome of the Inter Milan Barcelona match.
