If the money-grabbing, less-football passionate administrators and club owners all had their way, the UEFA Champions League (UCL) would be a thing of the past. But as Kai Havertz reminded us just after winning last season’s trophy, it remains Europe’s premier club competition, and one every youngster with an ambition to play football dreams of winning.
The format of the Champions League isn’t perfect, there are a host of clubs who feel left out every season and there are those who believe the competition is structured to favour the elites. However, since its inception — or when its name was changed from the European Cup — in 1992, the competition has provided some of football’s greatest moments. From Zinedine Zidane’s wonder strike in the 2002 final against Bayer Leverkusen — which remains to many, the greatest UCL goal of all time — to Olympique Marseille’s shock win over AC Milan in the 1993 final and not forgetting to include John Terry’s famous slip in Moscow; the Champions League has had it all. And whether it gets replaced by the proposed “European Super League” or UEFA simply changes the rules so much that we eventually lose interest, one thing is certain, we have got a new and exciting season of good football to look forward to.
Enough said, here’s my preview of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League season.
Group A
After an offseason that saw them pick up Lionel Messi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Georginio Wijnaldum, and Sergio Ramos, all via free agency, Paris St. Germain are the odds-on favourite for this season’s trophy. The French side find themselves in Group A, alongside Manchester City, who narrowly lost last season’s final to Chelsea. Club Brugge and RB Leipzig are the final two teams in the group and both will most likely be targeting a third place that would give them a chance at the UEFA Europa League, because let’s face it, unless there’s a seismic catastrophe, there’s hardly any way one of PSG or City will fail to qualify from this group.
Group B
Arguably the group of death in this season’s Champions League, champions Atletico Madrid. On paper everything points to both Atletico and Liverpool coming out of the group. However, after Porto’s surprise run to the competition’s quarter-finals last season, there’s a lot still to play for. Seven-time champions Milan are back amongst Europe’s premier clubs but their inexperienced team might just count against Stefano Pioli’s side. However, with players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Franck Kessie, and Theo Hernandez, the Italian side have enough in their ranks to make things interesting.
Group C
Since getting to the semi-finals in the 2018-19 season, Ajax have mightily disappointed in the last two seasons, failing to make it past the group stages in subsequent campaigns. But after being drawn against teams like Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon, and Besiktas, the Dutch champions will be hoping to change that this season.
Group C looks like a balanced one on paper, but the quality and know-how of Borussia Dortmund should see them finish as group winners, while the remaining three teams will fancy a scrap for the second position. Sporting Lisbon returns to the UCL as champions of Portugal, and with players like Pedro Goncalves, João Palhinha, and Pedro Porro on their books, Ruben Amorim’s men should make this group exciting.
Group D
After last season’s drama in the group stages, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, and Shakhtar Donetsk have to do it all over again. The trio find themselves in the same group once more, with Not-Moldovan minnows Sheriff Tiraspol making up the final team in the group. Inter have failed to qualify from their group in their last two UCL campaigns, and with the departure of key players like Achraf Hakimi and Romelu Lukaku, the Italian champions might struggle to do one better this time around. Real Madrid are favourites to finish top, thanks to the abundance of talent at their disposal and the experience of Carlo Ancelotti, who has three UCL winner’s medals as a manager/head coach. However, the Spanish team lost to Shakhtar Donetsk twice last season and will be wary of it repeating itself this season. For Sheriff Tiraspol, it should be more of an enjoyable experience than a serious one, after all, no one expects them to pull any punches.
Group E
Mention the name Bayern Munich to any Barcelona fan, and the next thing that comes to mind is the 8-2 thrashing they received from the German champions back in the summer of 2020. Now both teams find themselves in the same group alongside Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv, and both know they’ve enough about themselves to make it out the group — at least Bayern do, because the same can’t be said about Barcelona.
The Catalans lost the greatest player in its history, when Lionel Messi left to sign for PSG, and with a team clearly in a rebuilding phase, sailing into the knockout stages might not be as easy as it used to be. Benfica made it to the group stages after narrowly edging PSV Eindhoven in the playoffs and will expect to at least finish third ahead of the Ukrainian side, Dynamo Kyiv.
Group F
Not the toughest group, but certainly not the easiest. Manchester United find themselves in a tricky group F alongside Atalanta, Villarreal, and Young Boys of Switzerland. On paper, the Red Devils are expected to be favourites for the top spot but when you consider that Atalanta has made it into the knockout stages in the last two seasons and United have never defeated Villarreal in a competitive game — remember last season’s UEFA Europa League final — it certainly makes things more exciting. Young Boys are expected to be the whipping...errr, boys, of the group, however, playing with freedom and without the fear of something to lose could see them pull off an upset along the way.
Group G
“Perfectly balanced, as all things should be” might be the favourite quote of the mad titan, Thanos, but that would also pass as the most accurate description of group G. French champions Lille have been placed alongside Wolfsburg, RB Salzburg, and Sevilla — who let’s face it would rather be somewhere else, if you know what I mean. Predicting group G would be like tossing up a coin and hoping for a favourable outcome, because all four teams could defeat each other on a given day. The bookies' favourites to secure the top spot are Spanish side Sevilla, but with their propensity to always favour playing in the Europa League — whether knowingly or unknowingly — it’s hard to stake your money on them. Wolfsburg are back in the UCL after a long time away and will fancy their chances against an inexperienced Salzburg team, who, after so many failed shots at the Champions League group stage in the past, now have a few failed shots at the Last 16. Meanwhile, no sooner did Lille win Ligue 1 than they lost their manager and key players, and the fact they’ve begun their title defence in the worst way possible doesn’t bode well.
Group H
Gone are the days where one could bet their life savings that the defending champions of the UCL would fail to successfully defend the title, but after Real Madrid did it twice in quick succession, that curse is down the drain. And that enough should give Chelsea and its supporters enough optimism regarding the 2021-22 Champions League campaign. The Blues defeated Manchester City 1-0 last May to secure their second title overall and in a group with Juventus, Malmo, and Zenit St. Petersburg, Thomas Tuchel’s men know they have got a relatively easy path to the knockout stages. As for Juventus, it’s back to the drawing board they’ve failed to construct. The Italian side signed Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer of 2018 to end their UCL hoodoo which has lasted for over two decades, but they failed to make it past the quarterfinals, and quite frankly, they don’t look like ending it this year either, thanks to the absence of quality in their playing personnel. Malmo on the other hand don’t have the pressure of winning or making it past the group stages to worry about and would fancy a scrap with the Russian side, Zenit for the less glamorous but important third-place finish.
So here we have it, who do you think will be the most disappointing team of the group stages, who do you think will provide the biggest surprise? Let us know in the comments.
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