Tomorrow of course sees the start of the UEFA Champions League, which is arguably the biggest club competition in the world. Manchester United as ever are in the competition and will be looking to go one step further than last year and claim a fourth European Cup title.
Despite Barcelona’s credentials, as ever there will be alot to look forward to in this season’s competition and the four English teams (United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City) should all be optimistic of going far in the competition this season.
Incredibly it has been 10 years (yes that’s ten years) since Real Madrid, the supposed ‘Kings Of Europe’ last won won the competition, when they beat Bayer Leverkusen’s great team inspired by Michael Ballack at Glasgow in 2002. Despite the dominance of Barca, Florentino Perez and Jose Mourinho will be targeting to win the competition this year and bring home a 10th European Cup to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena will of course be the setting for this season’s final and whilst it’s staggering that Real have not won the competition since 2002, Bayern of course last won the competition in 2001. Their coach Jupp Heynckes knows what it takes to win the competition after doing so for Real back in 1998, and will want to improve on the Bavarian club’s effort last season when they were knocked out in the Last 16 by Inter Milan.
Speaking of Inter, it shall be interesting to see how far they and their close (that’s an understatement) city-rivals AC Milan get on this season. Inter were knocked out in the Quarter Finals last season by Schalke last season and there’s no doubt that their new manager Gian Piero Gasperini will be under pressure to go further in the competition this season.
The same can be said for Massimiliano Allegri at Milan as he will be under pressure this season, despite winning the Serie A title last year. Whilst a few old heads (Gennaro Gattuso, Allesandro Nest and Clarence Seedorf) remain, Allegri has refreshed the side this year and there’s no doubt Milan look a much younger exciting team this year. They could be the dark-horses of the competition this year.
Another side who many pundits/fans may be tipping to be a ‘dark horse’ could well be last season’s Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund. However whilst their manager Jurgen Klopp has certainly built a great team who can challenge in Germany, it may be too much for his young side to do well on both fronts. However they will be tough to beat at the Westfalenstadion and will be a side most neutrals will want to see reach the knockout stages.
Nobody should also forget the minnow teams that are in the competition and certainly it shall be good to see how APOEL Nicosia, Otelul Galati, Trabzonspor and Viktoria Plzen will get on in their groups. Will they be able to bag a point or even a win in the competition?
Lastly who will be the top goalscorer this season? Will it be someone else other than one of Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi or Wayne Rooney who all seem destined to score goals (and the odd hat-trick) this year?
We’ve done our predictions for this season’s group-stages, feel free to predict how well you think United will do this year?
Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
