UEFA Champions League: who will dethrone Chelsea?

The group part is a thing of the past. The top 16 teams have made it through to the knockout stage and can still hope for overall triumph. Apart from Barcelona and Dortmund, all the big favourites are through. Which teams will have only the highest ambitions? Who could be the dark horse of the tournament? How will the defending champions fare?

Bayern Munich

The biggest favourite to win the title. They have already won the most famous cup competition 6 times. If successful, it could finish 2nd. AC Milan (7 titles). The German giant is once again unbeatable in the league, where he is going for another title. He was dominant in the Champions League group stage too, gaining full points and advancing from 1st place (Ajax and Liverpool also gained 18 points).

Salzburg await him in the eighth round. The latter were a pleasant surprise in Group G, advancing at the expense of Sevilla and Wolfsburg. The group consisting of Sevilla, Wolfsburg, Salzburg and Lille was one of the easiest ever and the Austrian team made the most of it. By advancing to the eighth round, its chances against Bayern are minimal. The favourite is very likely to advance in this clash.

Manchester City

The Citizens have a clear goal again. To win the Champions League. It still eludes them this title, although in the last edition it was close (losing in the final to Chelsea). They still can’t break this curse. Once again, they will be among the huge favourites. They are the Premier League leaders (just ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea). They managed to win a tough group in the Champions League (Paris Saint-Germain, Leipzig, Brugge).

Fate has been relatively kind to the Citizens, they will face Sporting Lisbon in the eighth round. Advancing to the top 8 should be a mere formality. In the later stages, the Citizens may have to pay for a tough league schedule (it’s shaping up to be an even fight for the title until the very end).

Pep Guardiola’s men will have to spread their forces to succeed on both fronts. However, the Citizens have a squad of sufficient quality and breadth to be able to play for the title in both the Premier League and the Champions League.

Paris Saint-Germain

The biggest favourite for the title a season ago, things are not so rosy now. The Parisian team brought in fantastic reinforcements in the summer, but most of them are playing below expectations. Donnarumma is backing up Navas, Ramos hasn’t made a single start due to injury, Wijnaldum hasn’t made an impact and is already considering a January exit. Lionel Messi has also had a bad start to his career (he scored only a few goals in the opening months). He is now picking up his game, but still not at his Barcelona peak.

PSG’s performances are not ideal, which showed in the group stage. A loss to Manchester City, unexpected losses to Leipzig or Brugge. With the presence of Messi and Neymar, PSG’s game is not as compact and balanced. These players do not help much with pressing and defensive work, the Parisian team is so often outplayed, the defensive is under a lot of pressure. In the knockout phase, this could prove to be a huge problem that coach Pochettino needs to solve.

The first big test for Messi and co. will come in the eighth round, with Real Madrid as their opponent. The greater quality is on the side of the French team, they will be a slight favourite. But Real Madrid also have the phase, they can perfectly punish the opponent’s weaknesses. A surprise elimination of PSG in the eighth round is not out of the question. At the moment, they don’t look like a team that can attack the title. However, that could change quickly.

Liverpool FC

Completely opposite situation to PSG. Heavily underrated before the season, few believed in him. In the league, his best was supposed to be a top 4 finish, in the Champions League a quarter final. The reasons for the lower expectations? A narrow squad, almost zero reinforcements, a question mark hung over Van Dijk’s performance.

However, Klopp’s squad promptly threw all these negative predictions in the bin. He’s showing incredible football again. They are benefiting from great attacking productivity (he scored 45 goals in the Premier League), Salah is in the form of his life (he has scored 14 goals in the PL, notched 9 assists), the defensive performance has improved tremendously thanks to the return of Van Dijk. Liverpool also play very attacking football, its just entertaining.

On current form he is unplayable for most opponents. He will be extremely dangerous in the Champions League play-offs. They will play Inter Milan in the eighth round. The Reds will be clear favourites. They won’t have it easy, but their progress to the quarter-finals should be a mere formality. Especially if they maintain their current performance. Liverpool can go very far. The same applies to them as Bayern. There are only a couple of teams that can knock them out. Liverpool will be lightning again, watch out for them.

Real Madrid

Slightly underrated this season, definitely not one of the favourites. Also because of last season’s results, which didn’t quite live up to the club’s ambitions. In previous years, it simply wasn’t as ideal as when the star Ronaldo was in the team. Before the season, Carlo Ancelotti returned to the Real bench, and this proved to be an excellent decision. The “White Ballet” is playing great under Ancelotti. They have a huge lead in the league and with Atlético and Barcelona not playing, winning the title is very realistic.

The main driving force is the productive Benzema, while Vinicius Junior is also having a revival. In the LM group, he advanced from 1st place to the eighth finals. There they will play Paris Saint-Germain. It will be the biggest showpiece of the eighth round, a hugely attractive duel. Real will be slight underdogs, which could suit them.

The Spanish team’s progress would not be such a surprise. The performance is excellent, they can rely on a solid defence and a productive attack, the team chemistry is perfect.

Chelsea FC

Defending champions. They were a revelation last season. New coach Tuchel has taken the team’s game to a completely different level at the same time, and he has done it in record time (he became Chelsea coach mid-season). He applied a very effective system to Chelsea’s game based on an impenetrable defensive system and great tactical preparedness. In the end, it resulted in an unexpected Champions League triumph and the Blues became the king of football’s Everest.

But defending will be terribly difficult, perhaps even impossible, for Chelsea. It may have had a good start to the season, but it has been showing a decline in performance in recent games. They’ve dropped from 1st to 3rd in the league. In the LM, they only moved up from 2nd place due to the loss to Zenit.

The defence is not as confident, and Chilwell, who is very important for Chelsea’s game, is injured until the end of the season. However, the biggest weakness of the team is the attacking productivity, the performances of Lukaku and Werner are far beyond expectations. Chelsea will play Lille in the eighth round, which they should do well to advance. However, they are unlikely to be involved in the overall championship game.

Ajax Amsterdam

The favourite for the title, certainly not the dark horse of the tournament. The Dutch side did not have an easy group (Dortmund, Sporting, Besiktas), but they handled their opponents very well. It won all its matches, and with 18 points it advanced from the first place to the eighth round.

The reason for the sovereign progression? Fantastic attack. Ajax’s offense scored a total of 20 goals in the group (only Bayern scored more). The biggest boast is the attacking trio Berghuis-Haller-Anthony(contributing to 15 of Ajax’s 20 goals scored).

The cannonballer Haller stands out the most as he is in the form of his life(10 goals + 2 assists). The African striker is also the top scorer of the whole season. The team’s play is starting to resemble Ajax’s great run in the 2018/19 edition(semifinals). Can Haller and co. repeat this feat? With certain set of circumstances, it can happen, nothing is impossible.

Source:: Livesport, UEFA.com