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The new season of football is up and running and so is the new season of Champions League. During the group stage draws, some mouth-watering clashes and highly difficult groups were announced.
Gameweek 1 of the group stages is already over, with no major upsets and Gameweek 2 just a week away, football pundits all around the world have already started arguing about the possible winner of Europe's elite competition. So, let's dig up some past performances and recent team results and check out which are the 5 most probable teams that could win this cup at Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, Kiev next year.
5. Juventus
Juventus is the only team from Serie A, that has a realistic chance of winning the Champions League this season. Teams from Italy have a rich history of triumphing in the Champions League and Juventus have won the tournament before as well.
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Their last Champions League title came in 1996 though, 21 years ago. Since then they have come close several times, the most recent being a 4-1 loss to Real Madrid in the finals last season. Juventus has won nearly everything in modern football, except for this trophy.
The Old Lady will be more than eager to win this season, after all this may well be Buffon's last chance of getting hold of this cup. However, their campaign didn't start like they would have wanted it to. They were completely thrashed by FC Barcelona, with Lionel Messi scoring a fine brace.
Drawn in a relatively difficult group, they will have to defeat Barcelona at Allianz Stadium for a realistic chance of topping the group and getting a relatively easy opponent in the next round. Good for them though, the match is still two months away and their home record is quite unbelievable. They were undefeated in all 29 games they played at their home ground last season.
Also read: 5 reasons why this will be the most exciting Serie A season
Player to watch: Paulo Dybala
Paulo Dybala is an extremely talented player and many refer him to as "The Next Big Thing." And people don't say things without any evidence. Well, numbers speak for themselves.
In 100 matches that he has played for Juventus, he has scored a whopping 52 goals and has 18 assists to his name. And that too at such a young age of 23.
The Argentine has been far more terrifying this season after he was given the no.10 Jersey. Since then he has scored 10 goals in 6 games for his team. As he grows, he not only grows stronger but is also making his team stronger. If Juventus has any hopes of winning this season's Champions League title, it depends all on the performance of "The Jewel", Dybala.
4. Paris Saint-Germain
Nobody, yes, nobody thought PSG would be a potential candidate to win this season's Champions League until they pulled off a couple of stunning deals in the transfer market. In their disastrous performance against Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16, they blew off a 4-0 first leg lead to lose 6-5 on aggregate.
That game was so disastrous that, it left a lasting impression on players and the coach. So, Nasser Al-Khelaifi decided to buy the player who was responsible for their loss- Neymar. The flamboyant forward was bought for a world-record €222m Euros.
It did not stop there and PSG pulled off another stunner when they announced the signing of Kylian Mbappe on loan. And they also managed to keep all their star players from their previous season. With a squad like PSG's, anything less than a semi-final will surely be a failure.
Player to watch: Neymar
Neymar isn't just "The third best player" for nothing. A potential Ballon d'Or winner, nobody expected Neymar to leave FC Barcelona for Paris Saint-German. The most expensive player of all time, PSG bought Neymar for a whopping €222m, and boy has the lad settled in!
Since his arrival, he has 5 goals and 5 assists in 6 matches for his team and PSG has also won all their matches this season. With the arrival of Neymar, PSG not only have a certified goal scorer but also a creative player who can take on opposition players and help his teammates to score.
And this has clearly been reflected in PSG's performances till now, as Edison Cavani seems to be scoring for fun. A player of Neymar's calibre can kill other teams off all by himself, and if he is to win the Ballon d'Or that he wants so much, winning the Champions League is a must and Neymar will be more than happy to do it this season itself.
3. FC Bayern Munich
No matter how bad they have played their last match or no matter how many of their players are injured, no team in this world likes to face Bayern at the Allianz Arena.
Bayern Munich last won the Champions League in 2013 and have not been able to win it since. They have won 5 European titles till now. They are one of the highest scoring teams in Europe and nobody wants to be on the receiving end of their wrath.
With the addition of James Rodriguez, Bayern Munich now have a new dimension to their attack. Drawn against PSG in another tight group, it is expected that the Bavarians will top the group and progress to the next round fairly easily.
Player to watch: Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski is one of the best strikers in the world currently. Left foot, Right foot, Head - this man can score in any manner. He has been a consistent striker and has already scored 120 goals and assisted 30 goals in 155 matches he has played for Bayern Munich.
Lewandowski hasn't won a Champions League trophy yet, though he was very close to winning it in 2013 when Bayern defeated his team (Dortmund) in the finals. Now, he hopes to win the trophy with one of the strongest teams in the world.
Lewa's Champions League goalscoring record is pretty good as well. He has 41 goals in 62 matches. He has started the season in good form as well, scoring 10 goals in 8 matches already.
2. FC Barcelona
Everyone predicted Barcelona to have a bad season, following their 5-1 humiliation at the hands of Real Madrid following the departure of Neymar Jr.
Fast forward four matches into the season and the reality now is the opposite as they lead Real Madrid by 4 points going into Matchday 6. They seem completely unaffected by the departure of Neymar and to add the icing on the cake, their record signing Dembele hasn't even showcased his true potential. However, his injury is now a source of worry for the Catalans.
The midfield has started to click once again and Paulinho has quickly adapted to his new team. They have won all their matches. Everything is going pretty smoothly for a team whose board has been highly criticized for not signing any good players.
Nelson Semedo has been quite a find and Umtiti seems ready to take hold of Barcelona's defence in future. And they started their European campaign by thrashing Juventus 3-0 at Camp Nou.
To boast, Barcelona has already won 5 Champions League titles, with their last title coming in 2015 when they defeated Juventus in the finals. Barcelona seems ready to pose a serious threat to all the other teams in Champions League, as always.
Player to watch: Lionel Messi
593 Games. 522 Goals. 233 Assists.
One of the two best players of this generation, some even consider him to be the greatest of all time. Lionel Messi is a team on his own. With him in the team, no other player can be in the spotlight though he does his best to keep all of his teammates happy.
One cannot argue about the strengths of this man. Just give him the ball, and he will leave the defenders dumbfounded. With agility and dribbling like his, you wouldn't want to play against him even on his bad days.
Messi also ranks second in the all-time top scorers' list of the Champions League with 96 goals in just 112 matches. He has started this season in the best way possible and has amassed 9 goals in 5 La Liga matches and 2 in a Champions League match already. Expect the numbers to keep rising. Messi could very well be the best player in the Champions League this term.
1.Real Madrid
Who else than Real Madrid? You pretty much had guessed Real Madrid would top this list. And why wouldn't you?
Madrid have 12 European titles, a record that only the fans of this great club can celebrate. Real Madrid has pretty much broken all the records in their way to be the team they are as of now. They are the only team to win back-to-back Champions League titles and they just accomplished that over the last two years.
Defending the Champions League title is one of the hardest things to do in the footballing world. But most pundits tip them to win it once again this season.
They have been drawn in the group of death and everyone expects them to top the group. Real Madrid has only gone and become stronger than they were last season. They lost Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez in the transfer window ( astonishingly they were bench-warmers ) but have been able to sign some of the best young talents in the world in the form of Theo Hernandez and Dani Ceballos and also have Borja Mayoral, Marcos Llorente and Jesus Vallejo in their ranks.
And of course, one of the best midfield lineups currently and with players like Isco and Asensio, this team might turn out to be the best of all time.
Also read: 5 reasons why Real Madrid will win the La Liga this season
Player to watch: Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the two best players of this generation and also one of the greatest of all time. When it comes to Champions League though, this man surely is the best of all. He is the top scorer of Champions League, with 107 goals in 141 games. He has 92 goals in 89 matches for Real Madrid in Europe's elite competition, just 4 less than what Messi has with Barcelona.
He is also the player with most assists in this club competition, with 38 assists to his name; not as selfish as his haters make him out to be, eh? He was phenomenal for Real Madrid last season scoring 10 goals in knockout stages alone.
Right foot, Left foot, Headers- Ronaldo will find the net one way or the other. Though he didn't have the best of starts to the season, he has only played a Champions League match, where he scored 2 and 24 minutes of Super Copa final against Barcelona, where he managed to score a goal. He silenced the Camp Nou and showed off his physique but got sent off harshly. He subsequently pushed the referee and got a 5 match ban. His ban is over now. And the legend of Bernabeu is raring to go again.
