UEFA Champions League Preview: Real Madrid Vs FC Copenhagen

Derby-day defeat and a five-point gap to the top of the table will be put to the back of Real Madrid’s minds when they welcome FC Copenhagen to the Bernabeu on Wednesday night in the Champions League.

Madrid opened this year’s annual quest for La Decima with a highly impressive 6-1 win against Galatasaray in Turkey.

Their Danish opponents also made an encouraging start in the competition, drawing 1-1 with Italian champions Juventus.

Home advantage and perceived weaker opposition—that Juventus result aside—means Carlo Ancelotti is likely to use the game to aid the match fitness of players who have been injured at the beginning of the campaign.

Starting at the very back though, the Italian has already confirmed that Iker Casillas will be his European goalkeeper; Diego Lopez will drop to the bench, via The Daily Mail.

Across the back four Ancelotti is beginning to have more and more options.

Aside from Marcelo—who is now back in training—he has pretty much a full selection of defenders to choose from.

Raphael Varane, who has been on the bench for the last three league matches, is expected to come into the side for his first appearance of the season. Pepe is likely to drop out.

Elsewhere in the back four Dani Carvajal could replace Alvaro Arbeloa at right-back, but Fabio Coentrao should continue his run of games at left-back.

Xabi Alonso is not yet ready for a return, however Ancelotti is expected to make changes from the Asier Illarramendi – Sami Khedira partnership which flopped against Atletico Madrid.

Luka Modric will almost certainly come in, and he could partner either of the two—the other one will take their place alongside Casemiro on the bench.

Angel di Maria was at fault for the Atelti goal on Saturday night when he was withdrawn at half time to be replaced by Gareth Bale. And while Ancelotti may see this match as a chance to get minutes for Varane and Carvajal, he may also see it as an opportunity for his preferred trio of attacking midfielders to gel.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco and Bale lined up at the start of the second half against Atletico, but the trio were well marshalled by the impressive Rojiblancos rearguard—Copenhagen could present a chance for the trio to work on their relationship.

Meanwhile, the No. 9 role is becoming both increasingly interesting and difficult for Ancelotti.

Until now Karim Benzema has started every match, league and Europe, managing four goals in eight appearances—including two in the opening round of Champions League fixtures.

However no league goal in five games has seen fans grow frustrated with him— he’s been booed on more than once occasion at the Bernabeu.

So the question Ancelotti has to answer is as follows: Do Copenhagen represent the chance for the Frenchman to play himself back into form? Or is it time for him to have a rest and let Alvaro Morata show what he’s got?

By bleacher report

• Real Madrid seeks to win this game to continue their great start in UEFA Champions League. After the lost against Atletico. Real Madrid needs to regain confident and get back to the highest form. FC Copenhagen proved that they are not easy team as people expected. Their first game in Champions League was a draw against Italian champions [Juventus]. Gareth Bale is missing this match because of his previous injury in the thigh. Real Madrid has the advantage of playing home and we hope that they give us a good performance. Good luck to the Whites.

Real Madrid fans pine for Mesut Özil as Gareth Bale cannot stop first derby defeat since 1999

Gareth Bale would have heard plenty about Spain having a two-team league before he left Tottenham this summer. He will not have bargained on neither of those sides being Real Madrid.

Bale sat out Saturday’s sluggish first half against Atletico Madrid coming on at half time but was unable to prevent Real’s first league  defeat at the hands of their neighbours in 14 years. Coach Carlo Ancelotti is now under pressure to start the world-record signing for the visit of Copenhagen on Wednesday and prevent Real’s drama turning into a crisis.

There were isolated chants of “Jose Mourinho” outside the Bernabeu as home supporters filed away from a 1-0 defeat having seen their team slip five points behind both Atletico and Barcelona – five points in a league where the leaders win almost all their games is a sizeable gap to have allowed to open up after just seven matches.

There were also calls for president Florentino Perez to stand down and most of the postmortem centred on the player he had agreed to pack off to Arsenal in the summer – Mesut Özil. The Gunners’ position on top of the Premier League with the German heading the assists list was lost on no one.

It was a measure of how under pressure Ancelotti was on Saturday night when Cristiano Ronaldo made a rare appearance in front of the post-match microphones and cameras to declare: “The manager is doing a great job; we have to stay united  behind him. The fault lies with the players.”

Ancelotti had been unconvincing moments earlier in his press conference. “We had the same problem as in the previous game,” he said. “Our football was slow and we were not able to find any space. When you play against a team that defends well it is difficult if you play slowly.”

The Italian has a confusing remit at the Bernabeu. He inherited a team from Mourinho set up to defend deep and hit opponents on the counter-attack. But he was then bought midfielders Asier Illarramendi and Isco and urged to play a more elaborate, passing style. Then, with the season already two weeks old, he was given Bale to incorporate.

Between the cut-throat direct football that favours Bale and Ronaldo and the smooth passing game being called for by the purists, Ancelotti is offering up a hotch-potch that  resembles neither.

The good news for Bale is the last time Real lost to Atletico, they want on to win the Champions League at the end of the season.

The 6-1 demolition of a defensively fragile Galatasaray in the opening game in Group B has given them the perfect springboard and a good result against Copenhagen, who were beaten by Brondby at the weekend and who drew in their opening Champions League game to Juventus, would set them up for the double header with the Italians.

By independent

• Personally I think it’s too soon to judge Gareth Bale’s performance. He spent the whole summer wondering if he is going to play for Real Madrid or stay in Tottenham. His previous team didn’t let him go easily and Real Madrid had to pay a lot of money to sign him in the end of the transfer window. He came to the team after the league has started already, and the team has played two matches and won both of them. Bale didn’t train with the team in the period of preparation and he didn’t retrieve full fitness yet. I think it’s fair to give him more time before judging.

• This is a natural reaction after the painful loss of rivals Atletico Madrid. It’s normal in soccer that the victim after such a loss is one or more of the team members. This time it was coach Carlo Ancelotti and President of the club Florentino Perez. The fans were mad at Florentino Perez because he sold one of the best players of Real Madrid in the last three years [Mesut Özil] to Arsenal. Personally I agree with the fans at this point. Even though Real Madrid signed Isco in replacement for Ozil, but the experience that Ozil has in assisting attackers to score goals could have saved Real Madrid from that loss.

• On the other hand, I disagree with fans who were shouting name the previous coach “Jose Mourinho” after the match outside the stadium. This is the first defeat for Real Madrid since the beginning of this season. Even though some matches the team performance was not convincing, but there are many new players in the current squad and they need some time to be able to play in unison. The main goal now for Real Madrid is the UEFA Champions League and to get the 10th title. Finally, I wish the whites good luck in upcoming games and the success in obtaining the Champions League title.

• real madrid fans chanting mourinho’s name

La Liga: Atletico Madrid wins their first league victory over Real Madrid for 14 years.

The Whites fought until the very last moment, but the early goal from Diego Costa gave Atletico the win in the derby in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Real Madrid stumbled at home against Atletico. A Diego Costa goal in the 11th minute decided an exciting derby in the Bernabeu. The Whites kept trying until the end and came close to equalising with an acrobatic Morata shot, but it was not to be.

Real Madrid returned to their stadium to face another team from Madrid. After beating Getafe in the Santiago Bernabeu, the Whites played against Atletico in the standout fixture of this round of matches. The derby did not start in the best way for the Whites. A pass from Koke in the 11th minute put Diego Costa through to beat Diego Lopez in the one-on-one. They would need to come from behind again. That was something that did not perturb Real Madrid, having already turned the scoreboard around in two of their previous three home matches this season. Benzema, with two headed shots from Di Maria passes, had chances to level the match in the 23rd and 26th minutes, but Courtois was on form for the first and the ball went a few inches wide from the second. Cristiano Ronaldo, also with a header following a pass from the Argentine, had the last chance of the first half, but the ball went over the bar.

After the break Ancelotti decided to bring on Bale, for his Bernabeu debut, and Modric for Illarramendi and Di Maria. The Whites pressured their opponents, who tried to stifle Real Madrid’s attempts to play out from the back and to run the clock down. The could have even scored a second from a counterattack in which Diego Costa found himself alone against Diego Lopez, but the goalkeeper came out on top. From that point on it was all Real Madrid and Bale, in the 65th minute, and Cristiano Ronaldo, five minutes later, came close to levelling the match with shots from the edge of the area. Atletico looked to decide the match on the counter and Koke hit the crossbar in the 80th minute. There were ten minutes left and Real Madrid didn’t stop trying.

The match was end-to-end and equaliser nearly came in the 84th minute. Khedira’s cross followed by a spectacular acrobatic shot from Morata forced Courtois to show his best. Five minutes later the home team had another opportunity. Modric’s shot from distance was close to catching the visitors’ goalkeeper out. It was not the last chance and Morata’s 90th minute effort went a few inches wide of the Atletico goal. The Whites tried until the end, but it was not to be.

by Real Madrid Official

• After the poor performance against Eltche few days ago, another bad performance from Real Madrid in the first real challenge in La Liga against Atletico Madrid last night. Coach Ancelotti failed to break the defensive barrier for Atletico Madrid. The game started with an equal performance and each team was trying to score the first goal. After a mistake from Real Madrid Player Di Maria, koke passed the ball to the striker Diego Lopez who was alone in front of  the goal and scored the first and the only goal in the game. After the goal, the opponent fell to half the pitch to protect their goal from Real Madrid attacks. They were disciplined defensively and were able to repel all attacks. Overall, Atletico Madrid deserved to win this match. This should be an alert to the coach and the players that this season is not going to be easy whether we play home or away and we should be fully prepared for each game as if it’s a final. We hope that Real Madrid recover from this poor performance quickly and we should forget about this game now and focus on the upcoming UEFA Champions League match against FC Copenhagen on Wednesday. Good luck to the Los Blancos!

La Liga Preview: Real Madrid vs Athletico Madrid

It will be the clash of titans at Santiago Bernabeu, when host Real Madrid take on dangerous Athletico Madrid for a derby clash. It will be an important game for both the teams as fans from both sides will look to provide full support during the match.

Real Madrid will look to register a win against the home rivals and move up in the table ahead in second place, but Athletico Madrid will be a tough opposition and are unbeaten and have won all of their six league matches so far in the season.

Good news for Madrid is that, million dollar record signing, Gareth Bale is all set make his home debut as he is expected to start the game from 1st minutes providing assistance to Cristiano Ronaldo to breach the relatively weaker defence of Simeone’s boys. Considering the recent form of Los Blancos, they aren’t in the groove of winning habits as they have not been convincing in their wins this season. They were unable to score good chances against weaker teams in Villarreal and Elche. But they have a good and well maintained team in terms of talent and speed. The addition of Gareth Bale to tomorrows match should provide a new dimension to their attack because he will add extra pace and power to the offensive line and make the oppositions worry about the defence line.

In the midfield, Mordic and Isco’s role will be very important as Athletico Madrid have a good mid-fielders in Gabi and Suarez who are very agile and will look to attack every ball in their region.

Once again for the scoring responsibility the trio in Isoc, Benzema and Roanldo will look to do the most of scoring as Pepe , Ramos , Lopez will guard the defensive line. Carvajal and Arbeloa will have a dual role to play as they will be taking care of defence and attacking wings too.

On the other hand, Athletico Madrid will look to repeat the results of last derby encounter in the final of Copa del Rey where they beat the “Whites” in the last minutes with a score line of 2-1.

Lately the Athletico team are in good shape and form and recorded six wins out of as many games with the help of Diego Costa who have found the back of the net six times in six games. Also the arrival of experienced striker David Villa will boost up the forward region of the team. It will be hard for Real Madrid to win the physical battle against Atlético Madrid’s midfield in presence of Gabi and Suarez. The side wings attacks will be made by Koke and Adra Turan and the defence line will be looked after by experience Juanfran and Luis.

The very reason for Athletico ‘s success in recent years is due to the presence of the last man on defence line, Thibaut Courtois who is on loan from Chelsea for the past 3 years and has been doing very good to earn a reputation of one of the best keeper in the league. This season he has let his goal line breached only 5 times which also shows his contribution in Athletico’s recent form this season.

Overall it will be a close encounter between these two Spanish giants and a heated game is expected to follow.As the game will be played at Bernabeu, Real Madrid will have an upper hand in to the game as they are a fierce team at home.

Possible starting lineups:

Real Madrid: Lopez, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Arbeloa, Modric, Khedira, Isco, Bale, Ronaldo, Benzema

Atletico Madrid: Courtois; Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Insua; Tiago, Suarez, Koke; Turan, Costa, Villa

by smashreport

• personally, I think it’s going to be one of the hardest matches for both teams in this season. Real Madrid hardly won the last game in the last minute against a team in 18th position in La Liga. Tomorrow, Real Madrid is going to play against one of the best teams in Spanish league and who is sharing the fore with Barca. Both teams have good players, but Madrid has the advantage of playing in their stadium and between their fans. I think Diego Costa from Atletico Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid are the best players from each team and they are going to be an important factor in winning either team. Good luck to the Whites

La Liga: Real Madrid looking for sixth win of the season away against Elche

The Whites, who have scored 10 goals in the last two matches, are unbeaten so far this season and play Elche 24 seasons after their last league meeting.

Tonight against Elche, Real Madrid will be looking for their sixth league win of the season (22:00, C+ Liga & Gol T). The Whites are having a brilliant start to the season in which they are undefeated, with five wins and a draw, and are improving the level of their play match-by-match. Ancelotti has both Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco available for the fourth away trip of the season, both of whom are in stunning form with 12 goals between them in official matches. They come up against Elche, last season’s second division champions with the best record in the division and that have not lost at home in this campaign, but after five matches, they have yet to get a win under their belts.

The Whites are having a near-perfect start to the season having racked up five wins and a draw in the six league matches they have played , and in which they have scored 18 goals, 10 of them in the last two matches, which is an average of three goals per match. The team is improving the level of their play match-by-match and the new faces in the squad are gradually becoming embedded with the rest of their teammates showing all of their quality and putting in great performances.

STANDINGS BEFORE MATCH DAY 6
HOME				AWAY
Pos.	Pts	P	W	D	L	P	W	D	L
R. Madrid	3º	13	3	3	0	0	2	1	1	0
Elche	17º	3	2	0	2	0	3	0	1	2

Carlo Ancelotti has picked 20 players to travel to Alicante. The Italian coach has a variety of resources to call upon and several of his players are in great form. Isco, who has scored four goals in five matches, is the highest scoring midfielder in the league, Ronaldo, who is the club’s fifth leading scorer of all time, has signed five goals in the last two matches and Benzema has added a further four goals this campaign. On the assists front, Di Maria is in blistering form, and has already made three assists for his teammates.

The Whites will play against Elche in the league for the first time since the 1988/1989 season, when they won both home and away. Of the 38 times that the teams have played in La Liga, Real Madrid have won 23, drawn nine and lost six, with a record of 96 goals for and 36 against . These figures make Real Madrid the team that have won the most matches and have scored the most goals against the team from Alicante in the league.

Elche were last season’s Second Division champions
Elche are back in the top flight of domestic football after a 24 season absence and host the Whites in the sixth match day of the season sitting in seventeenth place in the table after three draws and two losses. They won a deserved promotion last season after being leaders of the second division from the first to the last day. They also achieved the best record in the division, being the team with the most wins, fewest losses and that scored the most goals.

LA LIGA MEETINGS BETWEEN THE TWO TEAMS
TEAM	P	W	D	L	GF	GA
Real Madrid	38	23	9	6	96	36
Elche	38	6	9	23	36	96

The team coached by Fran Escriba, making his debut in the first division, has Botia, Manu del Moral, Javi Marquez, Stevanovic, Domingo Cisma, Lomban, Ruben Perez, Sapunaru and Tono as the main additions to the squad this season. The team led by the Valencian coach are unbeaten this season at home after managing two draws. Defender Edu Albacar, with two goals, is their top scorer.

by Real Madrid Official

• Personally, I believe this is going to be an easy game for Real Madrid. Even though the whites are playing away and several players are missing this game including Gareth Bale because of a minor injury, there is a huge difference in the players quality and skills. The players experience and the games history between Real Madrid and Elche will play an important role in this match and will give confidence to the players. and the Madridista are optimistic in winning this match with a minimal effort. Good luck to the whites.

• predicted lineups for the game

 

Real Madrid vs. Getafe: Final score 4-1, Real comfortable despite rocky start

Real Madrid came from behind to earn what turned out to be a fairly comfortable win against Getafe. Pepe, Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco all found the net en route to a 4-1 win, and after the hosts cancelled out Getafe early opener they never looked like getting anything but all three points.

It was an inauspicious start, however. The hosts lost record signing Gareth Bale during warmups, and Getafe added insult to injury by going ahead after just five minutes. Cristiano Ronaldo was dispossessed (unfairly, he thought), and while he was protesting Getafe pushed towards goal. Lafita then sent a deflected shot past Diego Lopez from outside the box.

The man who did the deflecting, Pepe, soon made up for it with the equalising goal. Getafe played a dangerous attempted offside trap on a free kick, and it didn’t work. That allowed Ronaldo to sneak in at the back post, and although his initial shot was well saved by Miguel Moya, Pepe scrambled in the rebound from close range.

Getafe didn’t learn their lesson, and came within inches of going behind from a similar situation — this time Ronaldo couldn’t get his effort on target. But the second goal was coming, and the Portuguese was the man to score it. His free kick was blocked in the box by Michel; the referee pointed to the spot and Ronaldo blasted past Moya to make it 2-1.

Karim Benzema could and should have made it 3-1 as the half came to a close. Daniel Carvajal did wonderfully on the right, beating his man and playing in a cross which bent just out of Alexis‘ reach, but Benzema didn’t manage to get clean contact and saw his bobbling ‘shot’ clawed off the line by Moya. Moya denied Benzema once more just after halftime, pushing away a crisp strike after the striker had been found by Ronaldo with a cutback.

Madrid needed a third, and if their centre forward wasn’t going to provide it, someone else would. And so Isco stepped up. Ronaldo played him into the box with a quick free kick, and Isco drifted inside before bending a delightful curling shot into the back of the net.

Benzema then embarrassed himself further, somehow contriving to miss an open goal from point-blank range after a lovely cross from Alvaro Arbeloa and then spurning another easy chance by hitting Carvajal’s delivery wide of the post.

But despite Benzema’s cavalcade of failure in front of goal, things got even worse for Getafe. Michel was shown a straight red for scything down substitute Jese Rodriguez in the 86th minute, and after going down to ten men the visitors had absolutely no hope of clawing back the deficit.

There was time enough to add some gloss to the victory, with Ronaldo backheeling in a cross with the final kick of the game to make it 4-1. All in all, and despite the early setbacks, it was an easy enough win.

Real Madrid starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Diego Lopez, Alvaro Arbeloa, Nacho Fernandez, Pepe, Daniel Carvajal; Asier Illarramendi (Luka Modric 77′), Sami Khedira; Cristiano Ronaldo, Isco (Jese Rodriguez 84′), Angel di Maria; Karim Benzema (Alvaro Moratta 80′).

Goals: Pepe 19′, Ronaldo 33′, Isco 59′.

Getafe starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Miguel Moya; Sergio Escudero (Roberto Lago 45′), Alexis, Lisandro Lopez, Alvaro Arroyo (Rafa Lopez 70′); Pedro Mosquera, Michel; Diego Castro, Lafita (Sarabia 45′), Pedro Leon; Miku.

Goals: Lafita 5′.

By SbNation

• It was unfortunate to not see Gareth Bale for the first time playing in the santiago bernabeu. All Madridista were excited when they saw Gareth Bale warming up few minutes before the game starts and prepare to play from the beginning, but unfortunately he got injured before the game and was substituted for Isco. Even though Isco was not prepared to play from the begining, he did a great job scoring the second goal and assisting the team to win. However, in my opinion, Angel di Maria was the best player in the game. Even though he didn’t score goals, but his tremendous performance made him the man of the match. He helped defenders to stop the enemy’s attacks, and helped Real Madrid’s attackers to score goals. Although he was a midfielder, he was everywhere in the field and was running after the ball all the time and that made the coach and Madrid fans proud of him.

• Real Madrid vs Getafe 4-1 All Goals & Highlights 22/9/2013

Champions League: Great Victory – Galatasaray 1-6 Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo hits a hat-trick as Real Madrid ran in the second half against Galatasaray to send a threatening message to the other teams about their ambitions in the Champions League with a 6-1 victory in Istanbul In the opening match of the tournament for the Los Blancos.

Galatasaray started the game with enthusiasm and threatened Real Madrid several times, but they crumbled after Isco scored the first goal after 33′ minutes. After the first goal, Real Madrid dominated the rest of the game and scored five goals in the second half two of them were by Benzema (54′, 81′) and three by Cristiano Ronaldo (63′, 66′, 90′). Six minutes before the end of the match Galatasaray scored their first and only goal in the game (84′). Gareth Bale started the match on the bench, but came on midway through the second half and created one of Ronaldo’s goals and made a great performance.

Iker Casillas was the goal keeper and started ahead of Diego Lopez after being told by coach Carlo Ancelotti that he would be the goalkeeper in Champions Leage while Diego Lopez plays in La Liga. However, his night soon came to a premature end when he took an elbow to the ribs from his colleague Sergio Ramos and was substituted in the 13th minute for Diego Lopez who did a great job in protecting Real Madrid from many attacks. Most of Madrid fans were disappointed when they saw the team’s captain leaving the match injured. Casillas spent a lot of time on the bench for technical reasons since his injury last season against Valencia. At that time, Real Madrid bought Diego Lopez to take over Casillas place temporarily until the Captain comes back from his injury. However that did not happen because of Diego Lopez’s Amazing performance and that is why Casillas lost his place and spent most of the games in the bench. This game was the chance to see the Captain of Real Madrid and Spain playing in competitive games again. After all, Madridista were happy of the victory and the great performance of the players.

Here is the game facts by eurosport.com

• Real Madrid have won more games (106) than any other club in the history of the Champions League.
• This was Real Madrid’s first ever win in Turkey in European competition, having failed to triumph in their previous three attempts.
• Cristiano Ronaldo now has 206 goals in 204 matches for Real Madrid

PLAYER RATINGS –

GALATASARAY: Muslera 6, Eboue 5, Chedjou 6, Dany 5, Riera 6, Selçuk 6, Melo 6, Sneijder 5, Engin 5, Burak 5, Drogba 6. Subs: Bruma 7, Amrabat 6, Bulut 7.

REAL MADRID: Casillas 6, Ramos 6, Pepe 6, Carvajal 6, Arbeloa 6, Khedira 6, Modric 6, Di Maria 8, Isco 8, Ronaldo 9, Benzema 8. Subs: Lopez 6, Bale 6, Illaramendi 6.

MAN OF THE MATCH – Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid): The irrepressible Portuguese ace was in devastating form in the second period, netting yet another treble and a stunning third and final goal of the night.

• Galatasaray Vs Real Madrid 1-6 2013 All Goals and Full Highlights 17/09/2013

UEFA Champions League Draw

Recently, the UEFA Champions League Draw was held. 32 teams were divided into 8 groups. Each group has 4 teams and only two will advance to the first knockout stage. The team in third place in each group will be qualified to enter UEFA Europa League round of 32. the teams will play home and away against each other.

UEFA Champions League Draw:

• Manchester United, the defending Premier League champions should be happy with their draw. They were able to avoid the strongest teams and they will be able to easily take the lead in the group and advance to the next round. The other clubs will have to fight for the second knockout berth.

• Real Madrid and Juventus were drawn into the same group, This made Group B one of the hardest groups this year, and it didn’t get any easier when Turkish giants Galatasaray were added to the group. Madridista are very excited and ambitious of winning the 10th title after signing in really good players, such as Gareth Bale and Isco. On the other hand, Copenhagen considered the weakest team in the group and it will struggle to make an impact.

• Group C is an interesting group, as all four clubs could make a strong case to proceed to the next step. Benfica benefited for being with a mild competitive teams that have no big history of achievements in UEFA Champions League. Big-spending Paris Saint-Germain are also likely very pleased with their draw result.

• Bayern Munich and Manchester City have to be happy about the draw. Although being in the same group wasn’t the best case scenario for both teams, but they didn’t have another top club in the group in order to turn it into a true Group of Death. The other two teams are not so lucky for being with these strong teams.

• Chelsea won the Champions League title two seasons ago. Being in this group would almost guarantee them a place of the knockout stage . Even though Schalke and Basel are both solid clubs, the Blues are undoubtedly the best team in Group E.

• This is a tricky group and it is hard to predict which team is going to the next round. Arsenal has signed in one of the best midfielders in the world Mesut Ozil and that gave them confidence. Also, Napoli singed in several good players in different positions this year. On the other hand, Marseille has a lot of experience and proved that they are not an easy Competitor. Borussia Dortmund achieved the final of UEFA champions League, but they lost the title for Bayern Munich last season.

• Group G should be wide open. Porto, Atletico Madrid and Zenit should all be confident about their chances to move on, but one of them will be left behind. Austria Wien face an uphill battle, but could still have an impact and surprises the other competitors.

• While Barcelona and AC Milan will enter the final group expecting to advance, they can’t afford to overlook Ajax and Celtic. Ajax are the defending Dutch champions, and Celtic reached the UCL knockout stages last season. This is a solid overall group and each team has to work hard in order to go to the next round.