The Champions League group stage

The Champions League group stage has been made and there are some good groups. There is one clear group of death which involves Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dortmund, and Slavia Prava. Barcelona are still favorites to progress from this group, with one of inter or Dortmund getting second, and the other one getting the Europa League place.

Elsewhere Tottenham have been put in the same group as Bayern, Olympiakos and Red Star Belgrade. Spurs are expected to go through as second place, but Liverpool lost to Red Star last season so they shouldn’t be underestimated and Olympiacos are also a decent team.

Manchester City have been placed in a relatively easy group for them as they face Shakhtar, Atlanta, and Dinamo Zagreb. They have a far trip to Ukraine and Croatia, but they should still win the group with ease.

Liverpool are in a group with Napoli, Genk, and Salzburg. Liverpool will remember how they needed the heroics Alisson against Napoli last year to get through the group. They should be able to go through again this year without too much difficulty.

Chelsea are in a group which all teams are pretty evenly balanced. They have last year’s semi-finalists, Ajax, as well as Lille and Valencia. On paper, all teams are pretty close in quality and it should be an interesting group.

Real Madrid and PSG are in a group together with Galatasaray and Brugge. The two heavyweights will be fighting for first place, but they should not underestimate a trip to Turkey as Galatasaray are strong at home.

Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, and Lokomotiv Moscow are all in one group together. Ronaldo will be playing a familiar rival in Atletico and will also be coming up against his Portuguese heir, Joao Felix.

The final group is between Benfica, Lyon, Leipzig, and Zenit, which is also a tight group. Any one of these teams could finish top or finish bottom. Will be interesting to see how it finishes.

The Champions League group stage first match starts on the 17th of September and we cannot wait.