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Group A
The intrigue of a group generally depends less on the two best teams than on the third team, and that means that in Group A that depends a lot on Salzburg. They scored 16 goals in the group stage last season, but Erling Braut Haaland has since sold out, and five consecutive wins in Austria this season say little about their ability to compete at the European level. Champion Bayern lost their 32-game unbeaten streak on Saturday, but despite concerns over squad depth, they should pass comfortably with the team that eliminated them in the 2016 semi-final, Atlético. The hopes of last season’s Russian runner-up Lokomotiv Moscow were likely dashed when they sold forward Aleksey Miranchuk to Atalanta.
Prediction 1 Bayern Munich 2 Atlético de Madrid 3 RB Salzburg 4 Lokomotiv Moscow
Star player Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
B Group
Real Madrid are such a relentless winner, even when playing poorly, that no one would expect him to come out, but given how nervous he was about the pressure from Manchester City last season, he may not find this group entirely comfortable against three teams that they push a lot. and tall. Antonio Conte’s Internazionale, who have scored nine and conceded five to win their first two league games this season, and are backed by Achraf Hakimi, Aleksandar Kolarov and Arturo Vidal, are probably the best of them, but Shakhtar are a team better than they showed by losing 5-0 to Inter in the August Europa League semi-final, while Marco Rose’s Borussia Mönchengladbach is a good example of a modern Austro-German pressure squad.
Prediction 1 Real Madrid 2 International 3 Borussia Mönchengladbach 4 Shakhtar Donetsk
Star player Romelu Lukaku (International)
Group C
Ten seasons after his last Champions League title, there are many questions about Pep Guardiola and whether his philosophy leads the game as it did before, but few of them are likely to be asked in the group stage. André Villas-Boas’s Marseille improvement may threaten given his ability to get behind opponents, while the quality of Porto, the only Portuguese representative left, will become clearer when the transfer window closes. Olympiakos, Greek champions again after two unsuccessful years, besieged Tottenham, Arsenal and Wolves in the Europa League last season, but they are all uncomfortable rather than overwhelming for City.
Prediction 1 Manchester City 2 Marseille 3 Porto 4 Olympiakos
Star player Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City)
Group D
The first time most in England became aware of Ajax and their Total Football was in December 1966 when Rinus Michels’ team beat Bill Shankly’s Liverpool 5-1 in the fog of Amsterdam. Surprisingly, the teams have not met in the European Cup / Champions League since then, but with Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Hakim Ziyech and Donny van de Beek leaving the team that reached the semi-finals that season. prior to the last one, this is a diminished Ajax. Danish champion Midtjylland qualified with a notable late comeback in their play-off against Slavia Prague, but the most likely runners-up are Atalanta, who have only lost winger Timothy Castagne from the team that came close to eliminating PSG in the fourth of last season. -final.
Prediction 1 Liverpool 2 Atalanta 3 Ajax 4 Midtjylland
Star player Sadio Mané (Liverpool)
Group E
After the summer spending spree, there will be a clear expectation that Chelsea will at least match last season’s achievement by reaching the knockout stages, and there is little in the draw to stop them from doing so. Sevilla, once again champion of the Europa League, are a solid and clumsy team, although they have lost Éver Banega, Sergio Rico and Sergio Reguilón, but the third and fourth teams in the group are less challenging. Krasnodar, who qualified by beating PAOK in a play-off after finishing third in Russia last season, was the only rookie in pot three, while Rennes, third in France last season, is the second team with the lowest ranking remaining in the competition.
Prediction 1 Chelsea 2 Sevilla 3 Rennes 4 Krasnodar
Star player Timo Werner (Chelsea)
Group F
They are arguably the weakest group, led by Lucien Favre’s exciting but fragile Borussia Dortmund and his array of exciting, youthful talents. However, the best-seeded team is Zenit St. Petersburg, who have won two Russian league titles in a row under former midfielder Sergei Semak, thanks in large part to the attacking pairing of Russia captain Artem Dzyuba and Russia international. Iran Sardar Azmoun. . Lazio, who started last season in Serie A long before faltering after the lockout to finish fourth, and Belgian champions Club Brugge make up a trio of teams likely to battle for second place.
Prediction 1 Borussia Dortmund 2 Zenit Saint Petersburg 3 Lazio 4 Club Brugge
Star player Erling Braut Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)
Group G
For the first time, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will meet in the group stage of the Champions League, a detail that, although coincidental, seems to underline their decline. This may be a repeat of the 2015 final and the 2017 quarter-finals, but Juventus and Barcelona are in transition and under new managers in Andrea Pirlo and Ronald Koeman, which could possibly open the door for Dynamo Kyiv. They are making a comeback with veteran Romanian Mircea Lucescu and convincingly beat AZ and Gent in the play-offs. The group is completed by Hungarian champions Ferencvaros, the lowest ranked team left in the competition.
Prediction 1 Barcelona 2 Juventus 3 Dynamo Kyiv 4 Ferencvaros
Star player Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona)
Group H
As for the draws, this is so bad for Manchester United, grouped with two of last season’s semi-finalists, Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig. Beating PSG in the knockout stages of the season prior to the last was what led to Ole Gunnar Solskjær receiving the spot at United and he has a decent track record of preparing his team to sit deep and hit the counter. But to achieve a similar result and get the best out of Julian Nagelsmann’s Leipzig will require United to be much better defensively than they have been so far this season. Istanbul Basaksehir, with Nacer Chadli and Demba Ba in their squad, form the group after winning a first Turkish title last season.
Prediction 1 Paris Saint-Germain 2 RB Leipzig 3 Manchester United 4 Istanbul Basaksehir
Star player Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain)
