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| Champions League 2015/2016 |
Spanish teams have woman it most with Real Madrid and
Barcelona winning it 15 times. The English and Italian leagues have produced 12
winners each, Whereas, German teams have won it 7 times.
As it has been in the previous champions’ league seasons,
the majour battle will be between the top clubs in the top four leagues in
Europe. The draw has been relatively fair to all the top clubs.
I have listed below a brief summary of the teams who stand
genuine chances of winning the champions league this season. Although it is a
relatively open competition, only a few clubs stand a realistic chance of
winning the glamorous competition.
Spain made history after becoming the first ever football
nation to have as many as five domestic clubs qualify for the group stages of
the UEFA Champions League. The Defending Champion Barcelona, 2014 champions
Real Madrid and the defending Champions of Europa league were joined by the
2014 finalist Athletico Madrid and Valencia.
FC Barcelona will
be expected to go all the way. Retaining the Champions league is one of the
most difficult things in football, but Barcelona still have the best front
three in Europe and in Arda Turan they have the perfect complement for the
likes of Ivan Rachitic and Andres Iniesta. To rule out Barcelona is to be naive
and foolhardy. Don’t ask me why!
Barcelona rating: 9/10
Real Madrid with
Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodrigues, Kareem Benzema and Gareth Bale remain one
of the most effective attacking teams in Europe. The arrival of Rafa Benitez is
expected to give the team a new motivation. How the Real Madrid players will react to
Benitez' training styles, tactics and philosophy will go a long way in
determining how far they go in the competition.
Real Madrid rating: 8.5/10
Chelsea Fc giving
their current form it's quite ambitious to expect Chelsea to go far in the
champion’s league this season. However, Jose Mourinho has proved he is capable
of inspiring his team to bounce back in the past, this is not likely to be an
exception. Jose's famous champion’s league campaign with Porto got off a worse
start, but, despite suffering a heavy defeat to Madrid in the group stage, his
side went on an incredible leap to beat Monaco at the final.
Chelsea rating 8/10
Bayern Munich
will continue to be a genuine contender in the Champions League. Bayern Munich
will be looking to build a Bayern-like season that includes winning the
Bundesliga and going all the way in the champions league. If Bayern manage to
keep winning, then everything should be hunky dory. If they don’t, it will be a
rough journey for Pep as he will continue to get harsh criticism from former
Bayern players.
Bayern 8/10
Juventus Fc will once again be the dark horse In the
Champions League, the addition of amazing talents like Paulo Dybala, Mario
Lemina and Harnanes, will help them fill the gap left by Aturo Vidal and Andre Pirlo.
Pogba will continue to be the spine of the team.
Juventus rating 8/10
PSG have shown
great improvement and maturity in the last two campaign, Laurent Blank has
managed to put together a balanced squad, the arrival of Angel Di'Maria will
add more fire power to their attack. What will be interesting to see is how
Zlatan Ibrahimović will respond after the club had told him he can leave. If
they manage to replicate or improve on last season's performances, they will be
a genuine contender this season.
PSG 8/10
Manchester City Fc may consider themselves unlucky,
they are once again handed a tough group as they had in the past two seasons.
However, City will be going into this season's champions league with high
confidence, they started the EPL season perfectly; winning all the games while
keeping clean sheets. They have also had majour improvement to a squad that was
already good enough. City should have enough to qualify from the tough group
but how far they will go in the competition is left to be seen.
Man city 7.5/10
These seven teams will be joined with 26 other teams, all
with different aim, hopes and expectations. The best of the rest will emerge
the winner, In any case, it promises to be a thrilling competition.
Your Comments and opinions are welcome.
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