European Champions League Predictions

By Raymond Tham • UrbanWire
• email reporter • email story • printer friendly version

Arguably the greatest club soccer tournament in the world, the European Champions League has already seen its first ball kicked, with the qualifying round, which was held in August, over. Last season was the year of the underdogs as Monaco and Porto reached the finals after overcoming giants like Real Madrid and Manchester United respectively. Porto eventually won, which resulted in a mass exodus of their key players and their manager to bigger clubs around Europe.

Will we see another surprise team go all the way against all odds, or will the giants of Europe regain their lost pride by crushing all pretenders in their way to the final? With the group stages ready to begin, UW predicts the top 2 teams that will go through from each group and the potential dark horse to watch for.

Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Group E
Group F
Group G
Group H

Group A
Deportivo La Coruna
Liverpool
AS Monaco
Olympiakos

Prediction: Deportivo La Coruna, Liverpool

Just like the defending champions Porto, Monaco has ironically paid the price of reaching the last season’s finals. Former Captain and talisman Ludovic Giuly has left for Barcelona, while winger Jerome Rothen joined Paris St. Germain during the close season. Top scorer and loan star Fernando Morientes has also returned to Real Madrid, with only the prodigious young striker, Javier Saviola, making his way to the casino haven of Monaco, on loan from Barcelona. While Rafael Benitez has failed to change boring old Liverpool, the loss of Monaco’s key players should allow Liverpool to just ease through. As for Deportivo, their world-class strike force of Walter Pandiani, Diego Tristan and Juan Carlos Valeron coupled with their excellent organisation should see them easily top the group, although they were thrashed by Monaco last season. The Greeks from Olympiakos should be easily overwhelmed.

Group B
Real Madrid
AS Roma
Bayer Leverkusen
Dynamo Kiev

Prediction: AS Roma, Dynamo Kiev

To predict that Real Madrid would go through is almost like predicting the story line from a lame Chinese serial. But to

predict that Real Madrid would get kicked out early would seem like pure insanity. The Galaticos has added Michael Owen, Walter Samuel and Jonathan Woodgate to their ranks, the latter 2 shoring up their frail backline – the Spanish giants have not made a defensive purchase in seasons. It would appear as if they were invincible. However, for all the magnificent football that they play, Madrid always seems to suffer when they play teams that defend hard and show great team work. What’s more, the pampered superstars could see themselves being out-roughed by Dynamo Kiev especially when they play in the harsh conditions of Ukraine. What the Ukrainians have going for them is that only a few people can actually name any of the stars in the team, and the rest of the group could risk underestimating them. Dynamo has always fared reasonably well in the Champions League and they could be the upset of this group stage. Francesco Totti and Antonio Cassano should inspire Roma to the next stage, while Leverkusen is simply not the same team that won the Bundesliga 2 seasons ago.

Group C
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Ajax Amsterdam
Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Prediction: Juventus, Ajax Amsterdam

Firstly, I must admit that I am an Ajax fan and this decision of mine could be seen as slightly biased, but I can back up my claim that Ajax could topple the German giants of Bayern Munich. Bayern has looked mediocre in their last 2 campaigns, simly because they have signed too many players in too short a time, with 11 players coming in since 2002. True, they are one of the greatest European teams of all time, but so is Ajax. My gut feeling also tells me that this could be the year where the young kids of Ajax emulate the class of ‘95. Then, the locally bred talents of Patrick Kluivert, Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars and the de Boer brothers emerged on the scene, as their extremely young squad went against all odds to beat Italian juggernaughts Juventus in the finals. Reality struck as the Amsterdam team just didn’t have the money to keep these young superstars happy and eventually the team broke up. After years of mediocrity, Ajax finally has a new breed of young talent which could possibly be worthy successors to Kluivert and Co. The brilliant Rafael Van Der Vaart is already being regarded as the next Dennis Bergkamp or Johan Cruyff, both alumni of Ajax, while players like Wesley Sneijder, Steven Pienaar, Johnny Heitinga, Mauro Rosales and Wesley Sonck, are all in their early 20s but have already represented their nations at the highest level. Most of the Ajax players have been playing together since they were children in contrast with Bayern Munich newly-pieced squad, which may face a huge problem integrating quickly and effectively. Unfortunately, one of Ajax’s best players, the lanky Zlatan Ibrahimovic has moved on to Juventus, who may have struggled in the qualifying stages, but certainly have the talent to move through this group. The Israel side, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, could face an onslaught on the field against every team.

Group D
Manchester United
Olympique Lyonnais
Sparta Prague
Fernerbache

Prediction: Manchester United, Olympique Lyonnais

The English side has never failed to qualify from the group stages in recent memory and they look good in a fairly easy group for them. The only question is: How well will Wayne Rooney fit in? This group shouldn’t hold any shocks besides the fact that teams going to Turkey to face Fernerbache could potentially feel intimidated by the infamous rowdiness of the Turkish fans while the Czechs of Sparta Prague have former Manchester United winger, Karel Poborsky, who could provide some excitement. Winner of 3 consecutive French titles, Lyon will be hoping that Giovanne Elber will be fit enough to fire them through.

Group E
Arsenal
Panathinaikos
PSV Eindhoven
Rosenberg

Prediction: Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven

Arsenal should breeze through every single opponent easily as long as Thierry Henry and Jose Antonio Reyes remain fit. In a fight for second place in the group, PSV Eindhoven should have the upper hand with a combination of internationals like Mark Van Bommel, Philip Cocu and Wilfred Bouma leading the squad with young talents like Peruvian Jefferson Farfan, Swiss Forward Johan Volanthen and striker Jan Venegoor of Hesselink, who used to be considered one of the most promising young talents in European football. With their caped crusaders, Batman (Mateja Kezman) and (Arjen) Robben both having left for Chelsea, PSV is looking for new heroes. After qualifying from this round, it’s unlikely that they will go any further.

Group F
Barcelona
AC Milan
Glasgow Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk

Prediction: Barcelona, AC Milan

Henrik Larsson will make an emotional return to the club where he spent most of his career , when his new team, Barcelona, face the Scottish giants of Celtic. Celtic may dominated the Scottish league for the past few seasons, but the lack of competition in Scotland has resulted in them failing to translate local achievements into the foreign arena. While they have done well in what many consider the poorer cousin of the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, they have failed to make much of an impression in the Champions League so far. And as luck would have it, they have to face the rejuvenated Spanish juggernauts Barcelona and the incredible might of the champions 2 seasons back, AC Milan. Both Barcelona and AC Milan have strong traditions in the Champions League, and with stars like Ronaldinho and Deco for Barcelona, Kaka and Shevchenko for Milan, they shouldn’t see Celtic as too much of a problem.

Group G
Valencia
Inter Milan
Anderlecht
Werder Bremen

Prediction: Valencia, Werder Bremen

Valencia has built a strong tradition in the Champions League under former coach Rafael Benitez and their present coach Claudio Ranieri has gone full circle after leaving Valencia for Chelsea and finally coming back to Valencia again. Valencia has an excellent blend of hardworking players like Ruben Baraja and David Albelda together with the subliminal flair of attack-minded players, who include exciting left winger Vicente and the god-like creator Pablo Aimar. Unlike their city rivals AC Milan, Inter Milan has surprisingly struggled in the last few years even though they boast some of the best players in the world. Javier Zanetti, Christian Vieri and Alvaro Recoba have failed to impress in the Champions League while Andy Van Der Meyde looks set to move back to Ajax after a horrid first season at Inter. They then could be potentially kicked out by the relatively unknown Werder Bremen who shocked the world in beating the likes of Bayern Munich to top the German league without any big names. Top scorer Ailton has moved to Schalke 04, but he has been replaced by Miroslav Klose who shone during the 2002 World Cup. Werder Bremen will hope that its workman attitude will carry it through to the next round.

Group H
FC Porto
Chelsea
Paris St. Germain
CSKA Moscow

Prediction: FC Porto, Chelsea

After winning the Champions League last season, Porto lost several of their key players, 2 of whom - Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira have moved to Chelsea. But most importantly, they lost their manager, Jose Mourinho, whom many consider the reason they succeeded, who also moved on to Chelsea. While people used to call Chelsea the Real Madrid of England, they have now changed their stance and have called Real Madrid the Chelsea of Spain. Boasting seemingly limitless spending power thanks to their Russian owner and oil tycoon Roman Abramovich, Chelsea has turned from a squad full of aging players into an over-talented squad with countless big names. If Chelsea doesn’t at least reach the next round, the backlash will be incredible. Porto may have lost key players, but some remain like Maniche and Nuno Valente and together with new signings such as Helder Postiga, Ricardo Quaresma and the highly regarded Brazilian teenager Diego, they should be able to overcome PSG and CSKA Moscow.

***all pictures taken from http://www.uefa.com