No clear favourite this season
Every UEFA Champions League season starts with fans more or less being able to predict which teams will get to the last eight, the last four, or even to the final, but the 2018/19 campaign is different. While the usual suspects are in the running, such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus, among others, it is almost impossible to foresee which team will be crowned victors.
Having won four of the last five Champions League titles, writing Los Blancos off seems at first view to be a mistake, but wide cracks have surfaced since Cristiano Ronaldo’s untimely exit from the club. Questions were asked about Real’s capability of challenging for yet another European trophy the minute their record goalscorer left for Juventus, but after losing twice to CSKA Moscow, it seems the 13-time champions have lost their air of invincibility, despite still topping Group G. Although they are backed to advance past Ajax Amsterdam in the round of 16, the team’s reign of dominance appears to be nearing an end.
Bayern, another European giant club, have also been there and thereabout, having won the competition once and lost in two finals over the last decade. This season, however, not many are giving them a chance purely due to their slack domestic form, as the team still appears to be finding its feet under the new management of Niko Kovac. Having not gotten anywhere close to the final in recent years, there is no reason Paris Saint-Germain should be considered favourites, especially with Neymar missing both of their upcoming round of 16 clashes against Manchester United. Manchester City are in the same boat as PSG, but with Pep Guardiola, arguably the best modern-day manager in football, the unachievable could become achievable.
Perhaps the three teams destined for the latter stages of the tournament are Juventus, Barca and last season’s finalists Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp’s red men are far stronger than the team they took to the 2017/18 final in Kiev against Los Blancos, thanks to the likes of Allison and Virgil van Dijk. As for Barca, a signal of intent was put out at the start of the campaign by Lionel Messi, who insisted the team is determined to make amends for their recent form in Europe. The Catalan giants last lifted the trophy in the 2014/15 season and have been overshadowed by their fiercest rivals.
While there is no outand- out favourite, perhaps the safest bet seems to be on the team Ronaldo plays for. The Portuguese superstar dragged his former club to final after final, breaking individual and team records along the way. Ronaldo was influential in Real’s three consecutive Champions League wins and is the tournament’s top scorer of all time with 121 goals in 158 games. The 34-year-old, however, has scored just once in Europe this season, but it’s at the knockout rounds he comes alive. His experience will be vital to any success Juventus has in the competition, but they could not have drawn a trickier opponent in Atletico Madrid.