The growth of the Champions League as a brand in the last 20 years has been miraculous. Some would say the biggest reason for this was the radical change in format that saw a group stage first contested with four groups of four teams in 1994/95.
The lengthening of the competition allows much greater television coverage over a longer period of the year, thus attracting more television monies and ultimately better players , consolidating Europe’s stranglehold on the club game.
The greatest criticism of the group stage has been that seeding (protection) for the elite has meant predictable matches at the group stage, meaning that people only really switch on for the knockout stage.
From a British perspective, the seeding system means established powers such as Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea can expect a slightly easier draw, while relative newcomers Manchester City face yet another tough challenge (as evidenced by last year, when they faced Dortmund and Real Madrid).
Manchester United face three tricky outsiders in Ukrainian big spenders Shakhter Donetsk, an underrated Bayer Leverkusen and a relative unknown in Real Sociedad. It’s a tricky baptism for David Moyes, whose Champions League experience is limited to Everton’s Preliminary Round failures.
An experienced old head like Jose Mourinho, on the other hand, will feel more confident with Chelsea’s draw, as the Blues look strong favourites against Basel, Steaua and Schalke. Mourinho will take no risks, but will surely prevail fairly easily.
Celtic’s group has already been labelled as the toughest draw by the media, but on closer inspection they may be able to compete with AC Milan and Ajax, in between being annihilated by Barcelona, who will be in no mood to repeat last years shock loss at Celtic Park.
Galatasarary may push Juventus to the limit for 2nd place in Group B, while Benfica and Paris St Germain should progress without too much difficulty in Group C. Zenit may push the Iberian sides for progression from Group G.
The Spanish League has been weakened considerably during the summer, though this is not noticeable in the line ups of the duopoly, who continue to spend big. Guardiola will be under immense pressure after Bayern’s victory last year. Bayern will probably survive the group stage, but may struggle later on.
All in all, all the English sides should have a strong chance of progressing (especially after a summer of doing good business, weakening opposition leagues) , while Celtic look much less likely to repeat last year’s miracle.
Click here to read the portuguese version.
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* The Gringolaço column talks about the main tournaments and news from european football.
Direto da Redação | redacao_esporte@hotmail.com | @redacaoesporte
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