The “chaaaaampioooons leaaaague” is back. Don’t mind me; I say it as if it’s been gone for a very long time. The truth is that I love the champions league and whenever we have an action packed night I can’t seem to contain my joy.
For some reason I feel like the Group A to D have very exciting matches; more exciting than the group E to H. For today we have 6 matches and as usual I will be previewing all of them and giving a prediction of the games. This weekend I gave a prediction of the Saturdays games which you can have a look at here
The matches I will be previewing are
Without match talk let’s get into it.
Group A of the champions league has already been decided. Napoli and Liverpool are going though to the knockout stage of the champions league. But for what ever reason this match will be an entertaining match. Napoli will be aiming to cement their position on the top spot with a win or draw at Anfield.
Remember the first leg of this encounter resulted in a 4-1 loss to Liverpool at Naples. If have any hole of winning this fixture they will have to win this game by a huge margin. They will have to make a statement win but for what ever reason I still see Napoli as the favourites to win this one. When Napoli won the first leg I for one thought it was a glitch or an under dog beating a big team. Don’t get me wrong Napoli is not underdog, anyone going to face them in the knockout of the champions league should be cautious. In the league they are incredible and in champions league too they are untouchable.
They have not lost or drawn a match in the champions league yet. I see them as clear favorites to win this even though it’s at Anfield. With the way Liverpool’s season is going so far I think they will receive another beating. I give this match a 4-2 win to Napoli.
Unfortunately we won’t be able to see Ajax in the knockout stage of the champions league this season. For the second successive season they have been knocked out in the group stages. Now, they are on 3 points, they beat Rangers in the first leg by 4 goals to nil. If they are able to prevent Rangers from making an incredible comeback against them.
If things do stay as they are Ajax will be heading to the Europa league. Ajax in the champions league this season is nothing to write home about. The only match they have been able to take points from is Rangers.
Against Liverpool they had a very good game but they ended up losing as they were not sharp infront of goal. They lost 2 legs against Napoli and Liverpool. Against Napoli they were disgraced by the team from Italy as they seem to enjoy disgracing teams for fun this season.
I see this match as nothing but a consolation match for both teams. At least if one of them win they get the cash for winning. I see it as an all Ajax affair and I seen them taking the 3 points once again. I give them a 2-1 against Rangers who will be looking to avoid a thrashing.
Group B has also been decided already as Club Brugge and Porto are heading to the knockout stages. After a humiliating defeat to Porto last time out Club Brugge will look to take the top spot by beating Bayer Leverkusen today. On match day 5 they could have clinched the top spot but the unfortunately they were defeated by Porto 4-0.
Today they will look to take all the 3 points from Xabi Alonsos men or Porto loose against Atletico Madrid. The last time this 2 sides met in Brugge, Brugge took all three points by winning by 1 goal to nil. This time round they will need to do more than that as they can’t depend on the outcome of someone else’s match. I see a very tough match for Brugge after loosing to Porto.
Even though Leverkusen have been knocked out of the champions league, they still have hopes of qualifying for the the Europa league if they win and then hope Atm loose or draw to Porto. As such I see am exciting fixture. I give this match a 3-1 win to Leverkusen.
Diego Simeon’s men are out of the champions league and are at risk of not qualifying for Europa league either. This week has been a bad week for Atletico Madrid. After squandering their chance of qualifying to the champions league with a last minute penalty miss they also lost against Cadiz during the weekend after coming back from 2 goals.
I know Atm won’t wanna play in the Europa but that’s what it is. Loosing to Porto today will
Put a lot of pressure on Simon. Simon won’t want a lot of talks about his positions as they look for concentrate on laliga and see if they can catch Real Madrid and Barcelona at the top. For a match like this it’s very difficult to predict the winner as both teams really need the win.
If Porto win today and Brugge draw or loose they will top their group. The last time this two sides met in the first leg Atm beat them by 2 goals to 1. Before the Porto Brugge game I wound have predicted an easy win for Atm but after seeing them beat Brugge by 4 goals to nothing I see them having a little edge over Atm today. This one I give it a 3-1 win to Porto.
Group C has been decided and is not two of the big teams have qualified. Bayern qualified effortlessly with Inter fighting hard from their qualification. There isn’t much to be said about this encounter. Bayern have taken the first place and for now all they are chasing is records.
They will wanna keep their unprecedented record of qualifying from the group stages. Inter on the other hand are satisfied with their position on the table. Winning against Bayern today won’t give them the lead in the group as Bayern is 5 points away from them. Even though they know they can’t win the first spot they still won’t wanna be disgraced by a large score line. Am sure if they had the chance they would forfeit the match.
From Nagelsman's words before they faced Barca at camp nou, he said he wants teams to be afraid of them. He wants teams around Europe to see them and know that they means business. As such I don’t see him making a lot of changes to the team that beat Barca at the nou camp. In the first leg Bayern beat them by 2 goals to nil. But this time around I see a 3-1 loose to inter.
After all the money they spent in the transfer market, they will be pretty disappointed that they have been knocked out of the champions league.
When group C was potted we all said Bayern first and then Barca first. Some of us were even contemplating of Bayern will have an easy win against them after seeing all theirs signings.
Well, it seems it didn’t pay off as they are heading to the Europa league again this season. They started their champions league campaign on an excellent note after winning 5-1 against Plzen but then loosing to inter at the san siro and loosing to Bayern in both legs have caused their downfall. This time round there will be a lot of pressure on Xavi cause of the amount of money he spent in the market.
In the first leg Barca beat Plzen by 5 goals to 1 at the camp nou. They will need to lose to Plzen by a very wide margin if Plzen want to qualify for the Europa league; oh sorry even if they lest Plzen beat them 10 nil they are still heading to the Europa haha. I see this as an easy win for Barca so give it a 2-0 win but I would have wished for a 1-1 draw.
Spurs being spurs as always. They need a win or draw to qualify for the knockout stages today. All the teams from Group D can still qualify for the knockout of the champions league. They currently have 8 points with the others having 7,7 and 6. With a draw against Marseille they qualify.
Loosing is not an option for spurs today. During the weekend they had to fight from 2 goals down to win against Bournemouth. I thought it was an easy win for them but they complicated things for themselves by going two goals down. You will be sure to know that going two goals down again Marseille will mean doom for them. In the first leg they had to leave it late against them to take all 3 points. They had to wait until the dying minutes before they could get 2 goals.
For weird reasons I think this will be easy for spurs. I predict a 3-1 win for spurs and then they are through.
Sporting and Frankfurt seem to find themselves in this exciting group. It’s Germany Vs Portugal. With what I’ve seen from Frankfurt so far I think they should take the win but they are bottom of group D with 6 points. If they want to qualify they will have to win.
No, hold on; in their last encounter they lost by 3 Goals to nil against Sporting, wow this is interesting. I take my words back. It seems sporting will take that second spot. I seen them winning this and going ahead into the knockout stages. So for this match I give it a 2-0 win to sporting.
This is a prediction of Today's champions league matches. Make time to watch one as it will be very exciting.
Thanks for reading.
