Real Madrid (4/7 Group, 11/2 Tournament)
Last Season: Lost to Borussia Dortmund in semi finals (4-3
agg), 2nd in La Liga
Manager: Carlo Ancelotti
Previous best: 9x winners (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960,
1966, 1998, 2000, 2002)
The second galaticos era reached a high point or nadir
depending on your opinion of the Gareth Bale megatransfer but for now all the
attention is turning towards the hunt for ‘La Decima’, with the most successful
club in European history having last won the competition 11 years ago.
11 managers since have come and gone, with Jose Mournihio
having gotten the club past a frustrating run of last 16 defeats to three semi
finals but eventually proving too big for the Real Madrid boots, with a
dressing room split killing their chances last season and contributing to some
awful away form that was part, if not all, of the reason behind Borussia
Dortmund overpowering them in such fashion in the semi final last season.
New arrival Carlo Ancelotti – twice a winner of this
tournament and one of the most successful coaches of the modern era - is
probably the finest choice they could have made for his replacement and the
dressing room should definitely be a much happier place this season, but there
are still some underlying issues for Los Blancos.
Bale’s arrival does give them a quite delicious trio of
wingers to choose from going forward, but he bears every similarity to
Christiano Ronaldo – undoubtedly a better player – and Ancelotti may not get
quite the best out of him if moving him out of position to accommodate
Cristiano while sitting two players who like to cross the forward line is going
to be extremely hard for Ancelotti.
More worrying is the financing of those deals with the sale
of Gonazlo Higuain and crucially, Mezut Ozil. Ozil was undoubtedly one of the
finest attacking midfielders in the world and Madrid’s key creative asset, with
70 assists over the last three season – the most of any player in Europe – and
also the key attacking link with Ronaldo and the two attackers from behind –
and his loss does not look to have been compensated for despite the obvious
talent of Isco in midfield, while Higuain’s departure leaves Benezema as the
only established attacker at the club, which does not bode well for a long
season with challenges on both home and European fronts despite the obvious
promise of Alvaro Morata.
Juventus (9/4 Group, 18/1 Tournament)
Last Season: Lost to Bayern Munich in Quarter Finals (4-0
agg), won Serie A
Manager: Antonio Conte
Previous best: 2x Winner (1985,1996)
With their status as Italian top dogs well established,
Italy’s most successful side look ready to make their proper mark on the
European stage and should be able to launch a major challenge for Champions
League glory this season.
Blown away by Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, Juventus
should have learned plenty from that experience and have now been using the
same core of players for two straight seasons which should help what was
already an cohesive unit improve further.
For reasons better explained in our key preview of the main
players, the two new additions upfront in Tevez and Llorente should add edge to
a side that had been previously blunt against sides with a strong defensive
structure and crucially provide Antonio Conte with more tactical options to
change the rhythm of knockout games. A run to the quarterfinals last year was
an impressive challenge considering the strong group that they were in last
season and the fact that they had been absent for a season and it’s not hard to
imagine them going further this time around. A double header against Real
Madrid should prove to be the group decider and given their home record there’s
no reason to think they can’t take top spot.
Galatasaray
Last season: Lost in quarter-finals to Real Madrid (5-3
agg), won Super Lig
Manager: Faith Terim
Previous Best: Quarter finalists (2012/13)
Galatasray’s run to the quarter finals put Turkish football
back on the map last year and Faith Terim’s side can look forward to throwing
down a strong challenge and impressing for the second year running. Knocked out
by group rivals Real Madrid in a pulsating quarter final which saw them stage a
cracking comeback in a side that was a consolation thanks to a 3-0 Bernabeu win
in a first leg which saw the Turks give as good as they got for large periods.
A new TV deal and advantageous tax laws have seen them bring
in Wesley Sneidjder and Didier Drogba, with the two bringing back memories of
their best form while linking to great effect last season, and supplying
hotshot Burak Yilmaz to great effect – he scored eight in the competition last
year. Dominant in Turkey for the last two seasons, Europe has proven to be no
issue for the Super Lig Champions and they will be a side that can pose
problems for the bigger two even if another run is possibly beyond them.
Copenhagen
If you were watching Wolves when they had just been
eliminated from the FA Cup by Luton Town, their 4th straight defeat,
you’d never have presumed that their manager would be seeing Champions League
football but Stale Solbakken will be bringing Europe’s elite to a side that
he’s led to three Superligen titled and a double, while he also scored a
double.
At home they might be able to present some stiff opposition
and have taken points off Juventus but
it’s hard to see anything but a blank total for them.
VERDICT: Real Madrid’s appointment of Carlo Ancelotti bodes extremely well for a potential tilt at the title for a team who aren’t at all
far away but the absence of Mezut Ozil is ominous in creative terms and Gonzalo
Higuain’s departure has left them with only two specialist strikers until
January at least, with Europe's best - should they see fit to move - not eligible to play in this competition past the turn of the year. Juventus took some time to get to grips with the nuances of
European Football last year but ended their campaign with wins over Chelsea and
Shaktar Dontesk and can feel confident of taking points off Real Madrid in the
double header that should end up deciding the group on both occasions despite their dropping of points on matchday one. Galatasaray
are a step or two away from the foreign performances that are needed to break
through and Copenhagen look to have no chance of taking enough points from their trips to the big two as well.
Advice: 1 pts Juventus (10/3 Bet Victor)
*There have been technical problems and other commitments, meaning that this blog was written before Matchday 1. Sorry for the delay.
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