Its time! The best soccer on the planet starts today with the first set of group stage matches. Over the next three months the best of the best soccer teams Europe, and arguable, the world, square off to march toward the final 16 teams. The draw for how the final 16 will move forward will occur on December 12th. But we have a lot of soccer ahead of that. So lets take a look at the groups, including where they hail from for those who don’t closely follow UEFA (shoot I don’t even know a bunch of these teams).
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
Group A
Arsenal (English Premier League), FC Basel 1893 (Swiss League), Paris Saint-German (French Ligue 1), and PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgarian Football). On paper this group looks to be one of the easier ones to predict. Arsenal and PSG are overwhelming favorites to advance to the round of 16 and I see no reason not to go with those two.
Group B
Besitkas JK (no I am not just kidding)(Turkish Super League), FC Dynamo Kiev (Russia), SL Benfica (Portugal), and SSC Napoli (Italian Serie A). Napoli is favored in this group followed by Benfica and Dynamo with Besitkas trailing a bit. Benfica has some injuries up top and that could lead to trouble against Besitkas. Besitkas is an odd character in the soccer world. They do not play the standard win at home and draw on the road. They go for the W, all out. Makes for some interesting matches but leaves them vulnerable. Still in the end I think the Napoli and Benfica move forward.
Group C
Celtic FC (Scottish Premier League), FC Barcelona (Spanish La Liga), Manchester City FC (EPL), and VTL Borrusia Monchengladbach (German Bundesliga). Barca and Man City are big favorites and should sail cleanly through to the round of 16. Or will they. This is the group pegged as the “Group of Death.” While Barca and Man city are two of the top clubs in the world, Borussia and Celtic can play the game and could present some challenges for the front runners. Watch this one closely!
Group D
Club Atletico de Madrid (La Liga), FC Bayern Munchen (Bundesliga), FC Rostov (Russian Premier League), and PSV Eindhoven (Dutch Eredivisie). Another ho hum group. Madrid and Bayern are powerhouses and should cruise easily to the round of 16.
Group E
AS Monaco FC (Ligue 1), Bayern 04 Leverkusen (Bundesliga), PFC CSKA Moskva (RPL, and Tottenham FC (EPL). Tottenham and Bayern are the favorites in the group. However, this is a more interesting group. Moskva could be a sleeper coming out of the Russian league.
Group F
Borussia Dortmund (Bundesliga), Legia Warszawa (Poland Ekstraklasa), Real Madrid CF (La Liga), and Sporting Clube de Portugal (Portugal). Real Madrid and Dortmund are too big, too powerful, too fast for these smaller sides and qualify early in a runaway group.
Group G
Club Brugge KV (Belguim First Division), FC Copenhagen (Danish Super League), FC Porto (Portugal), and Leicester City FC (EPL). Porto and Leicester and the favorites but don’t look past Brugge. They may surprise here. Leicester City has only managed one win and one draw in their first four EPL matches and this isn’t any easier.
Group F
GNK Dinamo Zagreb (Croatian First League), Juventus (Serie A), Olympique Lionnais (Ligue 1), and Sevilla FC (La Liga). Juventus is a clear favorite followed by Sevilla and Lyon. Zagreb is a clear bottom finsiher in the group.
Now, just for fun, lets look to see how the various countries made out with these draws.
England
Although all four EPL teams are predicted to advance Man City got a tough draw while newcomer Leicester City got a fairly easy draw. Which they may need unless they pick up their play!
Spain
The Spanish press is drooling over a couple of matches such as Real Madrid v Dortmund, Sevilla v Juentus, and Atletico v Bayern. Yet while those three should be stellar matches nothing compares to the pregame hype of Barca and Man City.
Portugal
Porto has the most favorable draw but all the attention in Portugal is to ‘the man’. Cristiano Ronaldo was named UEFA Best Player in Europe.
Germany
Groundhog day once again for Mochengladbach. Poor guys seem to somehow all once again to the Group of Death. Big matches here are Bayern v Atletico and Dortmund v Real.
Italy
Juventus got a good draw and are early favorites to win it all…..well I agree with the first part.
France
The French are quite happy with their prospects and anticipate that all three sides will advance.
So we are just a short time till the first group stage matches kick off. So sit back and watch some great football (ok I had to throw that in there once)!!!!!
Soccer Analyst
Steve is an avid fan of all things soccer and the O’s. Originally from the west, he grew up in the Baltimore area. He returned to the west for college where he earned a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Montana State University and spent 36 years working at the Idaho National Laboratory prior to retiring in 2013. It was during his school years in Baltimore where he learned to play soccer and that developed into a life long passion. He played competitively for over 40 years and was a four year starting goalkeeper at MSU. He also coached and refereed in the Idaho premier soccer and High School programs for many years.