The competition pits the top European teams across the continent against each other. Champions of each country as well as runner ups, third, and even fourth place teams of major leagues (England, Spain, Italy etc) qualify. After an initial playoff for lessor teams (think Champions of Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Norway, etc) the final 32 teams are drawn into 8 groups of 4. Out of these 8 groups, the top 2 advance into the knockout stage of the tournament with the final being played in May at Real Madrid's Cathedral of Football, the Santiago Bernabeu.
This years draw provides Football fans with some mouthwatering ties, intriguing match ups, and thankfully, an easy path for my beloved Arsenal! The following is a group by group break down and my predictions.
Group A
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa
On paper this group seems fairly balanced with Juve and Bayern progressing smoothly. Both Bayern and Juve have significantly strengthened their squads and look to make their mark on the Champions League. With the additions of Felipe Melo (a player I begged Wenger to bring to Arsenal) and Diego, Juve has put together a strong team capable of going all the way. Bayern, rebuilding their team by spending millions on new players including Dutch starlet Arjen Robben look to reclaim the crown. However, Bordeaux, the defending French champions, has assembled a strong squad this year and young striker Marouane Chamakh may have something to say about who advances from the group. The young forward, an Arsenal transfer target all summer, decided to stay with Bordeaux for the year and is extremely dangerous in front of goal. If he is in form, no defense is safe. Last but not least, Maccabi Haifa, one of the strongest and most consistent teams in the Israeli League provide a daunting away trip for the other teams. If they can keep their impressive home record in tact and steal points on the road they could turn a few heads in Europe. Nevertheless, Bayern and Juve are simply too strong and should both advance from the group with Juve taking top spot.
Group B
Manchester United
CSKA Moskva
Besiktas
Wolfsburg
This group brings together the respective champions of England, Russia, Turkey, and Germany. Sir Alex Fergason correctly pointed out that each team has plenty of travel time ahead of them. The defending English champions, champions league runnerups last year as well face tough trips away to Moscow and Istanbul United should easily win this group with this superior resources and experience while there should be a tough battle for the runner up spot. Wolsburg set a Bundesliga record last year for most goals scored in a season and the combination of Milan transfer target Edin Dzeko, Grafite (last years Bundesliga top scorer), and new boy and personal favorite Obi Martins (another failed Arsenal transfer target), should prove for a dangerous opponent. Although Besiktas is my brothers girlfriends home team and CSKA Moskva are a tough opponent, I simply don't see either of them beating out Wolfsburg for the runner up position.
Stay tuned next week for my preview of Group C and D!
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