It’s that time of the season again where the world will witness the spectacles of the most popular, glamorous football tourney in the globe after the World Cup, the UEFA Champions league beginning on the 16th of September.GROUP STAGES PREVIEW
Group A
Chelsea, Bordeax, AS Roma and CFR Cluj
This group looks easy for Chelsea on paper and yes they indeed will come out of it unstucked, they made some exciting additions (Luiz Felipe Scolari, Jose Bosingwa from Porto F.C and Deco from Barcelona) in the off-season to complement their already capable team. Roma will be runners up, considering their experience in the champions league and continuity cause they’ve retained their coach Alberto Spalletti and nothing major has been changed in the playing department .Bordeaux will struggle in their away games, hence, one don’t see them coming out of this group. One, feels a pity for the Romanians CFR Cluj, cause they’ll certainly receive a baptism of fire and by their own standard they have admitted that they will just be a shadow of this group.
Group B
Panathanaikos, Inter Milan, Werder Bremen and Famagusta Arnothosis
This is an interesting group in a sense that everyone is looking forward to the Inter –arrogant Mourihno combination and what makes it more exciting is the prospect of seeing Bryce Moon making his Champions League debut against tough oppositions, the physical Germans, Bremen, the unknowns Famagusta and of course, Inter. I am afraid one will base his predictions on emotions that Panathanaikos will come out of this group by being the runners up to Jose Mourihno’s Inter Milan.
Group C
FC Basel, Shaktar Donestk, Barcelona and Sporting
Barcelona are, in all honesty, in a re- building phase after getting rid of Frank Rijkaard, replacing him with a novice, Pep Guordiola, who will be making his debut in a Champions League as a coach, replacing some of their best players, namely Ronaldinho to A.C Milan, Giovanni Santos to Tottenham Spurs and Deco to Chelsea with Dani Alves and Seydou Keita from Sevilla and Alexander Hleb from Arsenal. They will win this group, although not easily. One doesn’t foresee the Swiss team, FC Basel, posing any threat and they’re even not exciting to watch as they play negative football, which is more defence-orientated. One is scared to mention that Sporting will not make it through to the next stage because they’re the most stagnant team one has ever seen, they’re just not prepared to improve, as a result, Shaktar Donestk will just make it to the next round as runners up to Barcelona due to their ever presence in the champions league, surely they’ve learned one or two tricks from previous campaigns.
by Sthembiso Mathibela
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