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The group stage of the most valued and prestigious club football tournament is about to start from 18 September 2018. Well, technically the UEFA Champions League qualifiers did take place over the summer involving 3 rounds of domestic league champions battling it out for 6 places out of the total 32 spots available. But, it is only with the start of the group stage that the tournament will start to offer mouth-watering clashes between the top clubs in Europe.
In the earlier editions of the tournament, the teams that would make it to the knockout stages would be more or less clear. But with a few rule changes in 2018-19, the top 4 teams from the top 4 domestic leagues gain direct entry to the group stage.
The top 4 domestic leagues are decided on the basis of their UEFA Coefficient - English Premier League, Spanish LaLiga, Italian Seria A and German Bundesliga. Apart from this, we do have 3 teams from the 5th top domestic league - the French Ligue 1 as well as two teams each from the Russian Premier League, Portugal Liga NOS, and the Dutch Eredivisie.
So, let's take a deeper dive into the teams by domestic leagues.
Premier League
Teams: Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur
Performance in 2017-18:
All of the top 4 teams from the Premier League participated in the 2017-18 edition of the tournament as well. While Tottenham Hotspur did make a splash in the group stages itself defeating the likes of Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, Spurs, unfortunately, had to succumb to the might of Juventus in the round of 16 in spite of putting up a good performance. In hindsight, it was a momentary lack of concentration in the home leg where in a span of 5 minutes they conceded 2 goals gifting Juventus a quarter-final spot.
Manchester United did easily top their group seeing out the likes of Benfica and Basel. But Jose Mourinho's luck as the chosen one could not go farther than the round of 16. A disappointing loss to Sevilla at Old Trafford which was followed by a Mourinho rant about United's heritage did not go down well either.
Manchester City, the favorites to go all the way and win the trophy eased past the group stages and the round of 16 Swiss opponents Basel. Liverpool, too after making past the qualifiers came out on top of their group and breezed past Porto to set up an all English quarterfinals tie. It was here that Manchester City could not keep pace with Liverpool's fearsome trio of Salah, Mane and Firmino and lost both legs and the Premier League champions were humbled by a team in their own league.
Liverpool, however, did make it through the semis against 2 tough legs against AS Roma, but ultimately a Salah injury and Karius double mistake meant the Reds' wait for silverware continued.
The predictions for 2018-19:
Manchester City being the champions were drawn in Pot 1 and as luck would have it, they have got what it looks like an easy group. Their opponents are Olympique Lyon, Hoffenheim and Shakhtar Donetsk. City should top this group but their test lies ahead and I believe with the experience of last year, should make it through to the last four at least.
Manchester United have already endured a rough start to the season and will be severely tested to the limits by Juventus and Valencia. If United manage to get convincing victories over Young Boys and are able to hold their own at home against Juve and Valencia, they should at least make it to the round of 16.
Liverpool, by far have been handed a tough draw in what some are also calling a group of death with Napoli, PSG and Red Star Belgrade. Can Salah continue the same form he had last year? By the looks of it in the Premier League, he can and with the additions of Naby Keita, Fabinho and Shaqiri they have enough depth to make it out of this group and target the quarterfinals.
Tottenham, like Liverpool, have been handed a very tough group as well with trips to Barcelona, Inter Milan and PSV Eindhoven on the cards. While Spurs have shown they can keep up with the big boys, it will be between them and a strengthened Inter side as to who would make it to the next round. Tottenham, barring a surprise from Inter, should qualify here.
LaLiga
Teams: Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Valencia
Performance in 2017-2018:
Real Madrid were the champions for the third time in a row and this time they did it with some style defeating the French, Italian and German champions - PSG, Juventus and Bayern Munich respectively and finally Liverpool in the final. Even though they had a stellar run in the Champions League, Real could only manage a third-place finish in LaLiga.
Barcelona, under new coach Ernesto Valverde did manage to win a double of LaLiga and Copa del Rey as well as managing a 36-game unbeaten record in the domestic league, in the Champions League when it mattered the most, Roma came back from behind to win the second leg and kill Catalan hopes.
Atletico had a disappointing run in the Champions League group stages, but once they started competing in the Europa league, they showed their might in dispatching Arsenal and Marseille to win the Europa League. Valencia did not compete in the 2017-18 edition and are making a return to the competition in which they once dominated reaching two finals.
Predictions for 2018-19:
The new Real Madrid without Ronaldo to score the goals and without Zidane at the helm are seeing a new style of play under Julen Lopetegui and will be serious contenders this time around as well with the core of Kroos, Modric, Ramos and Bale still intact. I predict they will easily make past Roma, CSKA Moscow and Plzen and reach the quarter-finals at least, at which stage I believe they will miss Ronaldo and his goal-scoring prowess.
Barcelona, with the new additions of Arthur, Malcom and Arturo Vidal look a squad having more depth and more quality players than the last season. Leo Messi looks completely focused on achieving Champions League glory this year, as he mentioned to the fans in his opening statement of the season.
Even if they are in a potential group of death with Tottenham, Inter and PSV, I think Messi, Coutinho, Suarez combined with the youth and energy of Arthur and Malcom can go all the way and win it this year.
Atletico Madrid have always been tough competitors and this year they have gone big- retaining Griezmann, signing Lemar, Kalinic and Gelson; they have made their intentions clear. While Borussia Dortmund and Monaco do provide stiff competition in the group stage, Diego Simeone's men will not look to repeat last year's mistake and target the last 8 at the least.
Valencia are a determined group with quality players such as Rodrigo and Guedes in the mix, and will be direct competitors for Manchester United in their tussle for a round of 16 spot. I believe the last group stage match at the Mestalla could all but decide which of these two make it through.
Serie A
Teams: Juventus, Napoli, Roma, Inter
Performance in 2017-2018:
While Juventus have made it to two of the last 4 Champions League finals, it was AS Roma who surprised everyone by defeating Barcelona in the quarterfinals and made it to the last 4. The race between Juventus and Napoli went down to the wire for Serie A title last season, but it was in the Champions League that both of them disappointed.
Juventus had to come second place behind Barcelona and even though they did overcome Tottenham in the round of 16, a sublime performance from Ronaldo in the first leg and a last minute penalty handed Real Madrid victory in the quarterfinals.
Napoli, under Mauricio Sarri, did play beautiful football, but it was not enough to go past the group stage. Even in Europa League, they could not progress past the Round of 32 as the squad clearly could not handle the pressure of multiple competitions.
Inter Milan are making a return to the tournament and are much fiercer with the additions of Nainggolan, Lautaro Martinez, Sime Vrsaljko and Keita Balde. They had a strong start to the season but a collapse mid-way saw them having to defeat Lazio on the final day to secure Champions League football.
Predictions for 2018-2019:
The tormentor for Juventus in the earlier seasons has now joined them. Juventus would be looking for Champions League glory with the addition of Ronaldo to the already fearsome attack of Dybala, Douglas Costa and Mario Mandzukic. With even greater squad depth than the previous season, they should be looking at least a last 4 spot; however, anything other than ultimate glory would seem to be a downer for them.
Napoli look more balanced under Carlo Ancelotti's Champions League pedigree but having been handed the group of death with PSG and Liverpool, the chances this season do look bleak. With Ancelotti looking to rebuild the squad, this season could again see them go back to Europa League.
AS Roma, last season's giant killers have lost a few mainstays with Alisson leaving for Liverpool and Nainggolan departing for rivals Inter; but the arrivals of Pastore and Kluivert should be enough to go past CSKA and Plzen into the Round of 16.
The fourth Italian team, Inter Milan are nowhere near the might of Mourinho's Inter of 2010, but with quality players such as Icardi and Perisic and the new summer signings will be dark horses in their group containing Barcelona, Tottenham and PSV Eindhoven.
Bundesliga
Teams: Bayern Munich, Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund, Hoffenheim
Performance in 2017-18:
Bayern Munich won the domestic league for the sixth time with ease and also had a relatively confident route to the last 4 of the Champions League. But the likes of Muller, Kimmich, Ribery and the rest were outshined by Real Madrid.
Schalke are making a return to the Champions League this season and in the previous season they held their own against the likes of Dortmund, Leipzig and Leverkusen to come 2nd in the Bundesliga.
Clearly, Borussia Dortmund are not the team they once were, as was clearly evident in their performance as they came third in the league and were knocked out of both the Champions League and Europa League.
Hoffenheim, under their prolific coach Julian Nagelsmann, are entering the premier competition in Europe for the first time, but they did well to finish fourth in the league, given that they were in the fourth-tier a few years back.
Predictions for 2018-19:
Newly-appointed Bayern coach Niko Kovac has introduced a system of rotation of players which will allow the likes of Robben and Ribery to give their best in the Champions League. They have been drawn with Ajax and Benfica but they are clear favorites to top their group and make it through to the semis once again this year.
Schalke have been handed an easier draw with Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto and Galatasaray. However, they have lost the likes of Leon Goretzka to Bayern. They will need to manage both Bundesliga and Champions League this season, which they should and make it to the round of 16.
Dortmund, too have a new coach in Lucien Favre and the former Nice man has already made changes to the squad bringing in Witsel and making Marco Reus captain. Having been paired with Atletico Madrid and Monaco, it will be between them and Monaco for the second place finish. They should, however, make it through as the Monaco squad looks even more depleted.
Hoffenheim, participating for the first are up against Manchester City, but they will take their chances against Lyon and Shakhtar. The away trips to Lyon and Shakhtar seem too much however for Hoffenheim and we might see them in Europa League come January.
Ligue 1
Teams: Paris Saint-Germain, Monaco, Olympique Lyon
Performance in 2017-2018:
Last year, PSG made big money moves, signing the likes of Neymar from Barcelona and Kylian Mbappe from rivals Monaco. They were expected to go all the way in the competition. But a Neymar injury against Marseille saw them go down to eventual champions Real Madrid in the round of 16. The fact that they still won the Ligue 1 and 2 domestic cups was not enough as Unai Emery departed for Arsenal.
Monaco caused an uproar reaching the semi-finals of the 2016-17 edition but having lost all their key players over the course of two seasons to other rivals, they went out of the group stage in 2017-18.
Lyon enjoyed a good run throughout the season with Fekir, Depay and Diaz and made their return to Champions League by finishing ahead of rivals Marseille.
Predictions for 2018-19:
PSG have a new boss in Thomas Tuchel and will be looking to go past their performances of earlier seasons and go deep in the tournament. Neymar, Cavani and Mbappe should be enough in getting out of the group stage against Liverpool and Napoli and propel them even further.
Monaco, look a squad even further depleted and will likely go down to the Europa League this season with Dortmund and Atletico as their group stage competitions.
Lyon will be fortunate as they have been given an opportunity to progress to the Knockout stages with Hoffenheim and Shakhtar alongside mammoths Manchester City. Should they make it out of their group, they will prove a tough competition for anyone and might surprise a few like Roma did the season before.
Dutch Eredivisie, Portugal Liga NOS and Russian Premier League
Teams:
Eredivisie - Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven
Liga NOS - Porto, Benfica
Russian Premier League - Lokomotiv Moscow, CKSA Moscow
Predictions for 2018-19
The Portuguese Liga offers the teams of 2004 champions Porto and Benfica. Porto are the current Liga NOS Champions having ended the run of Benfica at the top. Both of them have quality teams, but the question this season still remains, do they have it in them to challenge in Europe?
Porto seem to have been handed an easier draw out of the two with Schalke, Lokomotiv Moscow and Galatasaray and they should make it to the round of 16. Benfica, meanwhile have to contend with Ajax in addition to the Champions League mainstays in Bayern Munich; but should qualify for the knockout stages at least.
From the Eredivisie, we have 2 past champions in Ajax and PSV. Both teams have good quality youth players. Ajax, have the likes of Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Hakeem Ziyech while Eredivisie champions PSV have World Cup starlet Hirving Lozano.
Ajax are in the group with Bayern and Benfica and should look to make it to the round of 16, with direct competition coming from Benfica. PSV are in a group of death with Barca, Spurs and Inter which should prove too much for them. Should either Benfica/ Spurs or Inter slip, Ajax and PSV will be looking to make their mark further in the competition at least in the Europa league.
The current Russian champions Lokomotiv Moscow saw some stiff competition from CSKA and Spartak and came out on top in the domestic competition. Russian clubs have always been tough competitors in European competitions, and Lokomotiv would be looking to go ahead to the round of 16 in an evenly-contested group with Schalke and Porto. CSKA Moscow have a tough draw with Real Madrid and Roma in their group and look likely contenders for Europa League football.
