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The latest edition of the UEFA Champions League kicks off on 18 September 2018. The group-stages and the knockout phases over the period of the next seven months end with the final taking place at Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano.
The official draw for the group stages took place in Monaco earlier today, as a result of which we came to know all the eight groups for this year's tournament.
Real Madrid will try to win their fourth consecutive UEFA Champions League this season. With the likes of Roma, CSKA Moscow and Viktoria Plzen in their group, their path to the knockout stages seem relatively simpler.
Barcelona and Juventus, two of Madrid's most likely contenders for the European crown have been drawn into relatively tougher groups with the likes of Tottenham, Manchester United, Inter Milan and Valencia to contend with.
Bayern and Manchester City, who are also likely to be the other closest challengers, have been drawn into straightforward groups while last year's finalists Liverpool have been arguably drawn into the 'group of death'.
Therefore, in this article, we look forward to three of the strongest groups, from which some of the big boys might miss out on the chance to qualify for the knockout stages:
#3 Group A (Atletico, Monaco, Dortmund, Club Brugge)
Group A consists of Atletico Madrid (Spain), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), AS Monaco (France) & Club Brugge (Belgium). This group certainly looks to be one of the toughest out of all the 8 groups.
Atletico are the reigning Europa League champions while finishing 2nd in La Liga ahead of their city rivals, Real Madrid. In the recent UEFA Super Cup meeting versus Real Madrid, the Europa League champions dismantled the Champions League winners 4-2. They look likely to go deep into the tournament and most probably should top this group.
Dortmund qualified for this year's UCL by the skin of their teeth, pipping Bayer Leverkusen on the basis of a better goal difference. Led by the charismatic Marco Reus, Dortmund haven't have been at their vintage best since Klopp stepped down, but they always pose a threat. The 2013 Champions League finalists will look to provide a better performance after a disappointing campaign last season.
Monaco finished second behind champions PSG by a massive difference of 13 points. The 2016/17 Ligue Un winners had a disappointing European campaign last year, finishing bottom of their group, with a measly total of 2 points. Despite poor showings, the 2015/16 semi-finalists are capable of beating any side on their day.
Club Brugge are the current champions of the Belgian First Division A. They won the league last season by a whopping margin of 12 points. This team has the least experience of European football and will find it tough to cope with 3 big teams in their group. But their domestic champions status could help them produce a shock result.
Overall, this group is going to be very tough to predict. Atletico are favourites to top it, but in football nothing is certain.
#2 Group B (Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspurs, PSV, Inter Milan)
Group B consists of Barcelona (Spain), Tottenham Hotspurs (England), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) & Internazionale (Italy). This is also a very tough group considering the current form of all 4 teams.
Barcelona won La Liga and the Copa del Rey last season. Although their UCL exit was a shocking piece of defending (lost to AS Roma in the QF), there is no denying that the Blaugrana will come back stronger this season with new signings in the form of Arturo Vidal and Malcom, making the team much stronger.
Tottenham Hotspurs finished third in the Premier League last season. They also topped their UCL group containing Real Madrid with 16 points. Spurs have a very strong side led by the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli and look very tough to contend with. After an unfortunate loss of head against Juventus in the round of 16 last season, Spurs will look to learn from their mistakes.
PSV Eindhoven are the current champions of the Eredivisie. They won the league with 83 points, finishing four points ahead of second-placed Ajax. Probably, the weakest team of the group, the Dutch champions will find it tough to make it past the group stages this season. Their home form will be crucial if they want to have any chance of qualifying.
Inter Milan have been struggling for the past few years, since winning the Champions League in 2009. They barely qualified for this year's tournament. With smart signings like Rajda Nainggolan, Sime Vrsaljko and Keita Balde, the Milan side has strengthened their team quite well. They are probably the dark horses of the group and can beat any side on their day.
Overall, Tottenham and Barcelona look favourites to go through. But it definitely won't be lopsided as Inter & PSV will both provide tough competition.
#1 Group C (PSG, Napoli, Liverpool, Red Star Belgrade)
Group C consists of Paris Saint-Germain (France), Napoli (Italy), Liverpool (England) & Red Star Belgrade (Serbia). This group definitely has the makings of the 'group of death. This is the group that could give us an upset as well as a shock.
PSG are the current Ligue 1 champions and they absolutely dominated the domestic football in France last season, winning the domestic treble. Although they lost out to Real Madrid in the round of 16 last season, they are always a very dangerous side with the likes of Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe leading the attack. Add Gigi Buffon to the goal and this team looks like the complete package.
Napoli finished 2nd in the Serie A last season. It was a fight with Juventus till the very end and unfortunately, Napoli lost out on the title by just 4 points, despite accumulating an astonishing 91 points. They failed to qualify for the round of 16 last season and this year it won't be easy again. But with some new additions to the squad plus a new manager, they will try to upset one of the big boys in the group.
Liverpool were the Champions League runner-up last season and finished 4th in the Premier League. They had an excellent season led by a wonderful front three of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. With quality additions of Alisson and Naby Keita to the side, this team looks astonishing on current form, having won 3 out of the 3 league games this season, conceding exactly zero goals in the process.
Red Star Belgrade are the current champions of Serbian SuperLiga as they won the league by a margin 12 points. But their luck seemed to have run out when it came to the UCL draw. It is highly unlikely that they will go any further than the group stages this season despite being a strong side domestically.
Overall, this group is going to be very close. Liverpool, PSG & Napoli all have a great chance to go through. What it also means, is that one of the above-mentioned teams will surely miss out.
Leave a comment below and let us know which UCL group do you think is the toughest this season.
