PARIS — Thirty years after the dawn of the
modern
Champions League, the group stage of this season’s competition kicks off
this week in the penultimate year in its current format, as Real Madrid begin
their defense of the trophy.
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Marseille were the champions in that inaugural
1992/93 season, but no French club has won the trophy since, and England,
Spain, Italy, and Germany have provided every winner since Jose Mourinho’s
Porto triumphed in 2004.
Indeed, since Inter triumphed in 2010, only five
clubs have lifted the trophy — Barcelona, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich have been
champions twice each, and Liverpool once.
Meanwhile, Madrid beat
Liverpool 1–0 in Paris in May
to be crowned European champions for the fifth time in nine years, confirming
the enduring brilliance of veteran stars like Luka Modric and Karim Benzema.
They will set out with the aim of winning a 15th
European Cup in Istanbul next June, with the group stage unlikely to overly
trouble Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Real will face RB Leipzig, Celtic, and
Shakhtar Donetsk in Group F, fully aware that even a home defeat to Sheriff Tiraspol
last year ultimately proved inconsequential.
“Last year the easiest game was supposedly against
Sheriff at the Bernabeu and we lost it, so we need to respect these teams,”
Ancelotti told Spanish media.
He was also quick to point out another factor which
could come into play this season.
Usually the group stage finishes in December, but
the World Cup has forced UEFA to fit all six Champions League matchdays into a
period of nine weeks starting earlier than usual.
‘Different demands’
“We will have to be ready not just for the quality of the opposition but
also for the different demands and rhythms,” said Liverpool manager Jurgen
Klopp, whose team begin at
Napoli on Wednesday as they look to put their defeat
against Real in the final last May behind them.
It could be that the real impact of that is only
felt when the knockout rounds start in February, when many players at Europe’s
biggest clubs will have had to come through the draining experience of a
mid-season World Cup.
Nevertheless, the
idea that someone from outside a narrow band of elite clubs might win the
Champions League is fanciful.
Real will not start
as favourites up against Manchester City and a reinforced Paris Saint-Germain
in particular.
“The Champions
League brings the best out of players, fans and teams. It would be very
reductive to say that PSG are favorites,” insisted PSG coach Christophe
Galtier.
Liverpool and
Bayern are also contenders, but the jury is out on Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur
or Barcelona.
From 2024 the group
stage will be expanded to feature 36 clubs, up from 32, with all teams together
in one pool and playing eight matches, instead of eight groups of four teams.
Making up the numbers
That will shake up a first phase that has become too predictable.
This time, most
fascination lies in Group C, where Bayern, Barcelona, and Inter Milan — with 14
European Cups between them — are together alongside Czech champions Viktoria
Plzen.
It is quite
possible that Barcelona, after a close season spent selling off assets to be
able to strengthen their squad despite enormous debts, could be knocked out in
the group stage for a second straight year.
“We got a very
difficult group. Possibly the hardest of the last 20 years,” warned Barcelona
coach Xavi Hernandez.
While Barcelona
have strengthened, even most clubs in the Champions League these days cannot
keep their best players.
Not so long ago a
group containing both Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla would be full of jeopardy
for Manchester City.
Yet City themselves
stripped Dortmund of
Erling Haaland, while Sevilla lost their center-back
pairing from last season of Jules Kounde and Diego Carlos, and are weakened as
a result.
That is just part of a
pattern.
Ajax, in Group A with Liverpool, Napoli and Rangers, lost coach Erik ten
Hag, Lisandro Martinez and Antony to Manchester United, and sold top scorer
Sebastien Haller to Dortmund, amongst other departures.
Benfica face PSG,
Juventus, and Maccabi Haifa in Group H having sold leading marksman Darwin
Nunez to Liverpool.
Their Lisbon rivals
Sporting saw key midfielders Matheus Nunes and Joao Palhinha head to England,
to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Fulham respectively.
Club Brugge,
Salzburg and FC Copenhagen have all lost their top scorers from last season. So
have Viktoria Plzen, whose French striker Jean-David Beauguel went to Saudi
Arabia.
These clubs are all
minnows in the Champions League pond, and most will be making up the numbers.
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