Group E: Chelsea FC, Juventus, Nordsjælland, Shaktar Donetsk
The reigning Champions League winners remade themselves after winning
the title under Roberto di Matteo's stewardship, adding a youth
infusion in Eden Hazard, Victor Moses and Oscar (all just 21) and 23
year-old Marko Marin, while casting away familiar faces like Didier
Drogba, Michael Essien and Salomon Kalou. The move has reaped rewards
for the Blues, who are leading the Premiership by themselves. Even with
the new additions, they still have their trusty cast of leaders in Frank
Lampard and John Terry, while Fernando Torres hopes to finally become
what Roman Abramovich paid him to be.
The
Bianconeri had a virtually flawless season in Italy,
winning the Scudetto and suffering its only loss in the Coppa Italia
Final against Napoli. That form continued in the early stages of this
season, sharing the Serie A lead with Napoli and Lazio as each team has
won their three respective matches. The core of the
Azzurri forms the nucleus of Juve, led by its captain Gigi Buffon and
panenka expert Andrea Pirlo.
Danish champions Nordsjælland make their Champions League debut, and
is expected to finish at the bottom considering the talent on the other
teams that are with them in the group. They will rely on Michael
Parkhurst and Jores Okore on their backline to hold the fort and
withstand the different attacking fronts out there. Currently third in
the Superliga, behind København and AaB, they will rely on the likes of
Soren Christensen, Nikolai Stokholm and Andreas Laudrup (yes, he is the
son of Michael Laudrup), as well as the scoring prowess of Joshua John
to pester the opposition.
Ukranian champions Shakhtar have opened up a six-point lead in the
Ukranian Premier League, thanks in part to the goal scoring prowess of
their Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He has a dozen goals in
nine matches. He had thirteen all season last year. Mircea Lucescu's
team also has a heavy Brazillian flavor, employing no less than eight of
them, plus Edu who plays for Croatia but came from Rio. His captain in
the national team, Darijo Srna shepherds the way in the back line.
Group F: FC BATE Borisov, FC Bayern München, LOSC Lille, Valencia CF
Perceived to be the weakest team in the group, the Belarussians have
their old reliables from last year's Champions League campaign returning
to attempt another run. They only made one major addition during the
recent transfer window, that being former Arsenal and Barcelona
midfielder Aleksandr Hleb. They maintain a slim lead in league action.
The Bavarians under Josef Heynckes managed to secure a runner-up
treble last season, losing out to BVB on the Bundesliga and the DFB
Pokal, while in the Champions League final at the home Allianz Stadium,
they capitulated at the penalty spot in dramatic fashion. Bayern won't
have Mario Gomez up front for the early part of the season, but they
snapped up Mario Mandžukić and old reliable Claudio Pizarro to make up
for his absence. They also splurged on Spanish international Javi
Martinez, spending $52.1 million to secure him from Basque side Atheltic
Bilbao. Otherwise, the core remains intact for the current Bundesliga
co-leaders, led by German captain Bastian Schweinsteiger and French
captain Franck Ribery.
The deposed French champions Lille relied on Joe Cole and Eden Hazard
last year in the Champions League. Both have since departed, leaving
Rudi Garcia with a challenging task ahead. To make up for Eden's loss,
they snapped up Salomon Kalou to provide some offense and are relying on
Dmitri Payet, Marvin Martin and Rio Mavuba and Túlio de Melo to supply
the goals. They have struggled somewhat, as they are mid-table in Ligue 1
with six points to their name.
Like Real Madrid, whom they faced to kick off La Liga,
Los Che
started off sluggish, with only five points in four matches. Their
first match in the group stage will evoke old memories for manager
Mauricio Pellegrino. He was on the pitch as a player when they faced
Bayern in 2001 for the Champions League final. Valencia would like to
improve on last year's European campaign, now bolstered with Aly
Cissokho and João Pereira at the back, a primed set of midfielders, led
by Andres Guardado, Fernando Gago and Alberto Costa, and up front by
Spanish international Roberto Soldado.
Group G: Celtic FC, FC Barcelona, FC Spartak Moskva, SL Benfica
The Scottish giants haven't run away with the SPL title just yet,
considering they have been the huge favorites, now that their perennial
rivals Rangers have plummeted all the way down to Scotland's Division
Three. A good omen perhaps the currently 5th place team is that they
have made the last 16 each time they are drawn with Benfica in a group.
Neil Lennon still has the likes of Gary Hooper, Kris Commons and
Georgios Samaras around, but the team has a youthful vibe to it, led by
18 year-old Anthony Watt.
The Catalan giants have seized the oppotunity with the current
struggles of Real Madrid, opening an eight-point gap between the two
rivals in La Liga. Even with a new regime under Tito Vilanova, the
scheme remains the same, with the talismanic powers of Messi, Xavi,
Iniesta and the comebacking David Villa. Jordi Alba has seamlessly made
the adjustment since the move from Valencia to join most of his
teammates with the Spanish national team.
For Unai Emery, facing off against the
Blaugrana is a
familiar task, having to deal with that problem as Valencia's manager
previously. Now currently tending to Spartak, Unai will probably rely on
similar tactics another Russian team pulled on Barca at the Nou Camp,
as Rubin Kazan managed to pull out a win there way back in 2009. The
RPL's runners-up from last season are currently tied for sixth as of the
moment, with Aiden McGeady, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Kim Källström
patrolling the midfield. They will however need their strikeforce to
score goals if they have any chance of progressing. That puts the onus
on the likes of Welliton, Emmanuel Emenike and Artem Dzyuba to put it
into the net.
Benfica will be without its captain Luisao for two months due to a
physical altercation with an official, to add to the personnel losses
with the transfers of Javi Garcia, Axel Witsel and Javier Saviola. In
spite of the departures, they are currently sharing the lead in the
Primeira Liga with veterans like Oscar Cardozo and Pablo Aimar teaming
up with youngsters Rodrigo Moreno, Ola John and Eduardo Salvio.
Group H: CFR 1907 Cluj, Galatasaray AŞ, Manchester United FC, SC Braga
The Romanians are currently sixth in Liga I and are looking for means
to improve on their history of finishing at the bottom of the group for
the past few years. Ioan Andone is heavy on the Portuguese flavor, with
around 7 of them with the team, most of them getting heavy playing
time. A few of those players have roots with SC Braga, interestingly.
Galatasaray have a bunch of players who have played big time
top-flight football, so they won't be undaunted with the task of having
to deal with the Red Devils at Old Trafford to kick off their campaign.
From goalkeeping (Fernando Muslera) to defense (Emmanuel Eboue) to
midfield (Hamit Alintop, Felipe Melo) and up front (Johan Elmander,
Milan Baroš) Fatih Terim has some guys who can handle the bright lights
and the big stage. The Süper Lig leaders also have a couple of offensive
threats in Umut Bulut and Burak Yilmaz up front.
The Premiership runners-up were embarrased to have missed out on the
knockout stage last year, having to go through the Europa campaign last
season. Sir Alex Ferguson has reloaded in the offseason with Robin van
Persie and Shinji Kagawa amongst other additions, and with Paul Scholes
and Nemanja Vidic now healthier and available, there is no excuse for
them to replicate their disappointment last season.
Unlike the other two Portuguese teams, SC Braga is currently just
outside the periphery of European qualification in this early part of
the season in the Primeira Liga. José Peseiro's men are looking at the
other open slot for qualification in the knockout phase as their goal.
They will need to find someone who can score for them, since they lost
their main goal-scoring option to a transfer to Benfica (Lima). The
pressure is on the likes of Eder, Ruben Amorim and Rúben Micael to
provide the offensive oomph that will be necessary to advance to the
next round.
