Champions League 2018/19: Anatomy of the groups - Part 1

Group D

Vedran Corluka, the World Cup finalist from Croatia is the big name in the group who plies his trade for FC Lokomotiv Moscow in the Russian Premier League

Teams: Locomotive Moscow, Porto, Schalke and Galatasaray

This is arguably the weakest of the eight groups and will garner the least focus at this stage. However, teams will look for them for pairing in the round of sixteen.

Porto are the favourites to progress from the group. Galatasaray are returning back to the competition after three seasons; Schalke are back after four campaigns while Locomotive Moscow has earned a spot after fifteen years.

This is a group where none of the teams have anything to lose and they will play with extreme intensity to prove their mettle. A qualification to the round of sixteen will be a bonus for the teams contesting.

However, Iceland have demonstrated in the Euro Cup and the World Cup, that one should never underestimate the power of the minnows. They possess the capability to rattle the dreams of the heavyweights. This is football and we could not know the outcome of a game until the final whistle is blown.

With Porto, the favourites to qualify, any of the other three teams have an equal chance of joining them in the second round.

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Let us focus on these four groups today. We will be back with the remaining four groups tomorrow. Let the music play...