Champions League Group Review

Once again the Champions League is upon us. While the EPL heats up, with Arsenal wrestling top spot away from Chelsea, I want to take a moment to preview the upcoming Champions League Round of 16. The Draw was held in December and provided football fans with a few mouthwatering ties while gifting Arsenal with a reasonably favorable opponent. Before I preview the 8 knockout ties to come I want to take a moment and revisit my Group Stage Predictions. 

Group A

Prediction:        Bayern Munich and Juventus

Result:              Bordeaux and Bayern Munich

While I warned of Bordeaux’s explosive potential, few could have predicted Bordeaux’s rampant run as group winners. They deservedely won the group and Bayern only squeaked in ahead of Juventus thanks to a 4-1 thrashing by the Bavarians in Turin during the final match day.        

Group B

Prediction:        Manchester United and Wolfsburg

Result:              Manchester United and CSKA Moskva

While I was wrong on the runner up to this group, Wolfsburg had their chance to advance. Simply needing a home draw against an already qualified Manchester United fielding a young squad should not have been a problem for the Germans. Nevertheless CSKA didn’t quit and earned the 2^nd spot as United ran off with victory in Germany.

Group C

Prediction:        Real Madrid and AC Milan

Result:              Real Madrid and AC Milan

Ah finally a group I got perfectly. No surprises here with the final outcome but the journey yielded some noteworthy results. AC Milan struggled mightily at first succumbing to losses at home to FC Zurich and Marseille. Nevertheless, Milan recovered to claim second as Real Madrid ran away with the group.

Group D

Prediction:        Chelsea and Porto

Result:              Chelsea and Porto

Ahhh another group successfully predicted by yours truly. Although I took some flack for picking Porto over Atletico Madrid, the Portuguese team (with a name strangely similar to my favorite beef jerky, oh boy Oberto! Compare with oh boy Oporto!)

Group E

Prediction:        Liverpool and Olympique Lyonnais

Result:              Fiorentina and Olympique Lyonnais

While I failed to predict Liverpool’s demise, I have to say this was a massively entertaining group to watch.  Fiorentina walked away with the group crown on the final match day while Debreceni made some noise and made life difficult for everyone. 

Group F

Prediction:        Barcelona and Inter Milan

Result:              Barcelona and Inter Milan

While this seemed like a straightforward outcome it was anything from it. This is exactly what makes football amazing. An unknown team like Rubin Kazan went to the Camp Nou and came away with victory. Inter repeatedly failed to impress and at one point it seemed as if Dynamo and Rubin would knock out Barca and Inter! Nevertheless, at the end of the day the European giants prevailed but were made to sweat for it.

Group G

Prediction:        Sevilla and Rangers

Result:              Sevilla and Stuttgart

This was easily my worst group of predictions. Rangers looked far from impressive the entire campaign and finished dead last. Unirea Urziceni had a great chance to progress but blew their final match with Stuttgart needing only a draw. No one was able to stand up to Sevilla and they easily ran out as group winners.

Group H

Prediction:        Arsenal and Olympiacos

Result:              Arsenal and Olympiacos

It is nice to end on a high note with another successfully predicted group!  Arsenal easily won the group while Olympicacos finished second. Alkamaar proved to be a thorn at times but could not finish games while Standard Liege played some impressive football and nearly defeated Arsenal.

Recapping my predictions there were 32 teams paired in 8 groups of 4. Each team played the other teams in the group twice, home and away with only 2 teams advanced from each group. Out of the 16 teams that advanced I successfully predicted 12! That is better than most European journalists did and I am just a silly American trying to follow the beautiful game from the States. That’s all for now, stay tuned next week for an EPL update and my breakdown of the Knockout Round!