Dynamo Kiev (500/1 Tournament, 20/1 Group)
2011-12 Champions League: Lost 1-4 on aggregate to Rubin
Kazan in third qualifying round, DNQ for group stages
Manager: Yuri Syomin
Captain: Oleksandr Shovkovskiy
It’s been a long time since Dynamo Kiev lost 4-2 in that
classic semi-final to Bayern Munich and they look set to make it another year
without reaching the knockout stages of this season despite strengthening the
side significantly over the summer.
The additions of Taye Taiwo, Raffael, Marco Ruben, Miguel
Veloso, Niko Kranjcar, and Andriy Bogdanov add a whole new feel to the side in
midfield and attack, giving them the thrust they’ve lost out on to over the
past seasons in Shakhtar domestically. There’s still a core of Ukrainian
national team players in there – Yarmolenko and Gusev to name but two – but
they looked a step or two behind in the Euros and a lot comes down to their
forward duo of Andriy Yarmolenko and Brown Ideye, Scorers of 13 goals apiece
last season while both netting once during the playoff.
They were slightly fortunate to get past Feynoord and
Mochengladbach – a Luke De Jong own goal really tipped the scales in their
favour late in the first leg - on their way here and that steep step up in
class was emphasises when PSG tore them apart on Matchday one, ending the game
early and raring to a dominant win.
Verdict: Added over the summer but not good enough to take
on the best. Group stage exit and maybe Europa League
Dynamo Zagreb (2000/1 Tournament, 80/1 Group)
2011-12 Champions League: 4th place in Group D, DNQ for
knockout stages
Manager: Ante Čačić, (second season)
Captain: Sammir
Few teams have suffered as humiliating a group stage
campaign as Zagreb, when they went into the history books for losing all of
their games last year with a goal difference of -19, with some even asking
about match fixing after their 7-1 humiliation at the hands of Lyon. No team
has had a worse campaign in the history of the competition and they didn’t
exactly get off to the greatest start pre-season when losing hugely influential
playmaker and scorer of one of Dinamo's crucial first-leg goals against Maribor,
Milan Badelj, to Hamburg, leaving far too much responsibility upon the
shoulders of penalty taking Captain Sammita and the trigger happy Duje Cop, who
scored in two of the last three Champions League games for Dinamo this summer.
Winners of the Croatian Championships since 2006, Zagreb are
a well-established side at home but have struggled badly on the big stage and
with no major additions apart from Cop, look set to struggle this year as well
as they did last time around if their opening day 2-0 defeat to Porto is
anything to go by, with Paris St Germain and trips to Kiev to come.
Advice: Might not be as humiliated as they were last season
but may still end up pointless. Group stage exit
Paris St Germain (20/1 Tournament, 8/11 Group)
2011-12 Champions League: DNQ
Manager: Carlo Ancelotti
Captain: Mamadou Sakho
Ever since Nasser Al-Khelaifi's Qatar Sports Investments
took over 70% of the club's shares last summer, he’s had this very competition
on the list from the start of his tenure at the head of the club, and if their
opening day 4-1 win against Kiev was anything to go by, then they’re very well
prepared for their assault at the competition after an eight year absence.
A massive spending spree over the past two summers has
brought world class quality to the side which is looking to establish
themselves as top dogs in not just France but also Europe following the
arrivals of Ezequiel Lavezzi, Marco Verratti, Thiago Silva and Zlatan
Ibrahimovi all from Serie A, adding to a side which could already boast quality
such as Javier Pastore and French internationals Jeremy Menez and Nene, who was
second top scorer in Ligue 1 last season and already had three goals this time
around.
The arrivals of Silva and Ibrahimovic give PSG arguably the
best centre back and striker in world football and it was clear that during a stuttering
start to the season (only made his first appearance against Kiev) that his
influence was missed and a centre back pairing with Alex already looks like a
formidable one based on a run of three straight wins to nil in Ligue 1. Gregory
Van Der Wiel’s arrival gives Ancelotti extra width down the flanks with the
solid Christophe Jallet as an alternative, while ex Barcelona’s Maxwell has
proven to be a solid addition already.
Marco Veratti had always been highly rated in Italy when
playing for Pescara but he’s lit up the French league so far and is arguably
one of the finest young talents on Europe based on his showings so far, linking
excellently with Gameiro and namely Ibrahimovic upfront. Pastore remains as
good as ever and Napoli’s Lavezzi astoundingly remains in reserve, which highlights
the depth in the squad. PSG were knocked out of the Europa League by Bilbao
last year but under two time winner Carlo Ancelotti a long run through the
competition should not be beyond the Parisians.
Verdict: Making their return after long absence but have had few, if any, stronger squads in their history. Should be well upto the quarter finals mark and possibly further if avoiding absolute cream of the crop
Porto (6/4 Group, 80/1 Tournament)
2011-12 Champions League: 3rd place in Group G, DNQ for
knockout stages
Manager: Vito Pereira
Captain: Hulk
European stalwarts Porto – every much the Arsenal of
Portugal - have made more than they’ve brought in in every single season since
2004 and they’ve done the same this summer thanks to the protracted transfer
saga over Hulk’s eyewatering £39.5million move to Zenit St Petersburg, along
with the exodus of Marc Janko, Alvaro Pereira, Fernando Belluschi, and Freddy
Guarin.
That’s a lot of talent to lose in just the one summer –Hulk alone
had 57 goals in 91 games in the past two seasons – but they’ve still got a talented
midfield core which contains Joao Moutinho (one of the top targets of Andre
Villas Boas’s reign at Spurs and a massive player in Portugal’s run to the
semi-finals of Euro 2012) and Lucho Gonzalez – who already has three domestic
goals for Porto at the time of writing.
Hulk’s a huge absence upfront but Silvestre Varela was very
impressive during the Euros for Portugal while James Rodríguez has impressed
playing alongside Falcao in the World Cup Qualifiers for Colombia. Both of them
should grow stronger as the tournament grows on and with such quality still in
their ranks, they should fancy their chances of at least going through the
group stages comfortably again.
Verdict: Lost a lot of talent but enough quality left, along with weak group, to make it through. May not go far though
VERDICT: We’re writing this one matchday into the tournament
but that benefit has clearly shown us that Porto and Paris St Germain are by
far the strongest teams in this group and should qualify easily ahead of the
Dynamo pair of Kiev and Zagreb, both of whom hold poor records at this level.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side are making their first appearance for eight years but
are filled with midfield and attacking quality through the likes of Javier
Pastore, Marco Veratti and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and they should edge the race
for top spot from Porto, who have an admirably strong team given their summer
departures. There’s 8/11 with Hills for PSG to win the group and that could
tempt some after their opening day romp over Kiev but the 7/5 on a straight
forecast makes much more sense.
Advice: 2 pts PSG-Porto Straight Forecast (7/5 Paddy Power)
No comments:
Post a Comment