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Champions League 2009-2010 Preview
Published by Ian John on September 15, 2009
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Tonight begins the League stages of the Champions League 2009-2010 and already, even at these early stages, there are some mouth watering ties to be played between some of European football’s elite teams in the coming weeks and months.
The biggest game this week will occur in the San Siro, where Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho welcome European and Spanish champions Barcelona. A massive game under any circumstances, but when played against the recent backdrop of star strikers Samuel Eto’o and Zlatan Ibrahimovic trading clubs and the news that Lionel Messi has just agreed terms on a brand new £170,000 a week (after tax!) contract, then the game has even more added spice.
Luck hasn’t favoured Milan’s other footballing giant. AC Milan have been paired with the other of Spanish football’s great heavyweights, in Florentino Perez brand new Real Madrid side in what looks like being another outstanding clash. Added spice in this group is provided by Marseille, who have not played Milan since defeating them in the 1993 Champions League final thanks to a Basile Boli goal.
The Eight Groups are comprised as follows :
Group A
FC Bayern München, Juventus, FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa FC
Group B
Manchester United FC, VfL Wolfsburg, PFC CSKA Moskva, Be?ikta? JK
Group C
AC Milan, FC Zürich, Real Madrid CF,Olympique de Marseille
Group D
APOEL FC, Chelsea FC, FC Porto, Club Atlético de Madrid
Group E
ACF Fiorentina, Liverpool FC, Debreceni VSC, Olympique Lyonnais
Group F
FC Rubin Kazan, FC Internazionale Milano, FC Barcelona, FC Dynamo Kyiv
Group G
FC Unirea Urziceni, VfB Stuttgart,Rangers FC, Sevilla FC
Group H
Arsenal FC, Olympiacos FC, AZ Alkmaar, Standard de Liège
And with games such as the ones mentioned previously and the likes of Bayern Munich facing Juventus, Liverpool taking on Lyon and Manchester United facing German champions Wolfsburg, it looks like being a very interesting next few months.
Who is going to prevail? Well here are my pick from the eight groups for the 16 teams who will qualify…
Group A : Whilst Bordeaux could upset the applecart at home, it is hard to see them taking points away from Juventus or Bayern and I think the Italian and the German superpowers will come through this group. QUALIFY : FC Bayern Munich & Juventus
Group B : Can anybody stop Manchester United? Probably not, so the race will be on for second spot. It will be close between Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow, but I think the Russian sides greater experience in Europe and perhaps a better result in Turkey will just edge them through. QUALIFY : Manchester United & CSKA Moscow
Group C : While it is possible Marseille could cause problems for the big two, would you bet against the two teams who have won this competition more than any other? No I wouldn’t either. QUALIFY : Real Madrid & AC Milan
Group D : Chelsea won’t have it all their own way in this group with the trips to Oporto and Madrid likely to offer them a stern test. However the English side will prevail and despite their poor start to the season domestically, I think Atletico will just edge out Porto, though it will be close. QUALIFY : Chelsea & Atletico Madrid
Group E : A lot of people dismissed this as an easy group for Liverpool. I’m not so sure, Lyon have Champions league pedigree and Fiorentina will be no pushovers, especially in Italy. If Liverpool lose two away games, as they could well do, they may miss out, but I think they will make it through, but this will be a close group and away performances will be crucial. QUALIFY : Lyon & Liverpool
Group F : Possibly the easiest group of the eight to predict. If Inter Milan and Barcelona do not stroll through the group to qualify then questions will need to be asked. QUALIFY : Barcelona & Inter
Group G : This looks to be a three way race between Rangers, Stuttgart and Sevilla. I fancy the Spanish side to top the group comfortably and I think Stuttgart may just have too much class for Rangers to cope with. QUALIFY : Sevilla & Stuttgart
Group H : This isn’t an easy group for Arsenal, AZ67 are champions of Holland and Liege are a more than useful side and a trip to Greece to face Olympiacos is never easy. This could well be the group where a shock team qualifies, but I think Arsenal will scrape through with Liege joining them in the second phase. QUALIFY : Arsenal & Standard Liege
As for the overall winner? I doubt you’d get great odds on any of the “big three” of the competition in Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United and while I can see good reasons for all of these sides to win it, my money is on Carlo Ancelotti to bring home his third and Chelsea’s first Champions League trophy come May.
Now sit back and watch how utterly wrong I can be and enjoy the feast of football about to start!
Image courtesy of ***slipstreamer*** at flickr.com
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Nabyl Charania on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 4:27 pm
Champs League is back! although watching Man U play was boring at best Real looked good today but Zurich took the game to them and made it interesting for a little bit.
Diego Zidane on Tue, 15th Sep 2009 4:32 pm
Inter V Barca! the football gods are happy with us!
Naheem Charania on Fri, 18th Sep 2009 2:48 pm
I’m seeing Woflsburg as the team to shake things up in the CL this year. With a healthy Grafite, Josue, Misimovic, and Dzeko, fans are in for sizzling, attacking champions league football. Sevilla’s just not been the same without Dani Alves blazing down the flank! The days of Sevilla showing serious threat spreadheaded by Diego Capel in the midfield are no more. Fabiano and Kanoute are still one of the strongest striking partnerships in the entire CL, but with Capel playing at a shadow of his former self and the loss of DAlves, they’re going to need something special to make things happen. Lyon are also going to have to pull off something magical to get into the serious part of the competition after losing Benzema and Juninho. Gomis is no Benzema, but he will bring some flair to their attack. It’s still amazing to see them battle it out on the CL field after losing players such as Essien, MDiarra, Abidal, Malouda, Belhadj (what a disaster on Lyon’s part to lose this player!), Tiago, etc. Taking Bodmer from Lille was a great move for them, but they just have to find the right place for him on the pitch. Let’s see how this season’s CL plays out…GO WOLFSBURG!
Ian John on Sat, 19th Sep 2009 5:35 am
I must admit, I’m looking forward to Wolfsburg taking on Manchester United. It should be an interesting game. I’m pleased they managed to fight off Milan’s interest in Dzeko during the pre-season. My dark horses to do well in the tournament are Standard Liege, they pushed Arsenal hard and I think in Axel Witsel, have an outstanding young talent.