Champions League 2018/19: Anatomy of the groups - Part 2

Champions League has begun. Atletico Madrid came back from behind to hand Monaco a defeat in the opening fixture of the Group A. Dortmund left it late against Club Brugge when Christian Pulisic came off the bench to score the accidental winner.

In Group B, Barcelona did a light work against PSV Eindhoven after a Messi masterclass. Ousmane Dembele and Coutinho showcased their footballing brain as they slowly take Barcelona to the next level in Europe.

In the other fixture of the group, Inter Milan piled further misery to the shaky start of Tottenham Hotspurs in the current campaign.

Elsewhere in Group C, PSG suffered a heartbreak at the Anfield stadium due to a Mbappe mistake at the stoppage time when the rescuer turned villain. In the other match, Napoli came across a goalless stalemate in Serbia.

In Group D, Galatasaray derailed Lokomotiv Moscow while Porto and Schalke 04 played out a 1-1 draw at the Veltins Arena.

In Matchday 1 for the remaining groups, we are waiting for some mouthwatering clashes tonight. Let us find out the anatomy of the remaining Groups from E to H in the competition.

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Group E

Robert Lewandowski has a great opportunity to set his Champions League record right with supposedly an easy group to overcome

Teams: AEK Athens, AFC Ajax, Bayern Munich and Benfica

Bayern Munich, the table toppers of the German domestic league, Bundesliga, are the strongest outfit in the group and should not face any hurdles in topping the group.

Star-studded forward line with Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller up front would freak out any defence, The spearheads of the midfield, Thiago Alcantara and James Rodriguez could be the architect of fearsome attacks.

The defensive wall comprising of David Alaba, Joshua Kimich and Manuel Neuer would be difficult to break even for the strongest teams in Europe.

Benfica, Ajax and AEK Athens should find it difficult to overcome Bayern and therefore the trio would battle it out for the second place in the group.

Benfica has the experience to control games in such stages in Europe and should see off Ajax for the second place.

However, Ajax has done a revival of the squad with some new signing and should not be written off straight away.

AEK Athens has won the Greek Championship after a hiatus of 24 years. They are not expected to create hiccups for anyone in the group.

Group F

Sergio Aguero is the spearhead of Manchester City attack

Teams: Hoffenheim, Manchester City, Olympique Lyonnais and Shakhtar Donetsk

Manchester City has not been in the best of the forms in the Premier League but is still in the top three in the table.

However, there would be no award to guess that Injury to Kevin de Bruyne may affect their proceedings in the group stages.

Shakhtar Donetsk would love to repeat their efforts from last campaign where they became the first team to beat Manchester City.

In the current campaign, Shakhtar has not the same team and might find it difficult to spoil Cityzen's party. They have lost some key members in the summer transfer window, notably, Fred, Bernard and Ferreyra.

Lyon's plan of reinforcing the squad has been spoiled in the French domestic league and are up against a daunting task to see off the premier league outfit, Manchester City in the Curtain raiser.

This group could become tricky for the second place. Lyon and Shakhtar should be battling it out for the spot unless we have some surprises.

Group G

Gareth Bale will have to shoulder the responsibility to come up with the goals after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo

Teams: CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, AS Roma and Viktoria Plzen

There should not be a Ballon d 'Or to guess the team of the group where the entire focus will be on the group stages.

Real Madrid are the defending champions but they have suffered a shocking void when Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Juventus earlier in the summer.

It would be an interesting watch to find out how they will fair without their superstar goalscorer in the competition.

The core of Los Blancos is still the same with Bale, Benzema, Isco, Modric, Marcelo and Ramos.

They have started the home campaign superbly but, in the Champions League, it is a different show. Together the core team will have to come up to the plate to compensate for the loss of 12-15 goals a season in the Champions League.

However, they have got an easy draw in terms of the opponents present in the group and should do a light work to move to the round of sixteen.

AS Roma is the next strong team who were responsible for shattering the dreams of Lionel Messi and Co. in the last campaign.

The Russian outfit CSKA Moscow and the Czech rivals Viktoria Plzen would fight it out for the Europa League.

Given the might of Real Madrid and AS Roma, it would be a miracle of the decade, if either of the minnows makes it to the next round. Moscow will hold the advantage over Plzen as they would try to repeat the heroics from the previous campaign.

Group H

Cristiano Ronaldo, Mr. Champions League

Teams: Juventus, Manchester United, Valencia and Young Boys

This is the group that holds the spotlight of the League due to the presence of Mr. Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Juventus, who are already a strong contender for the coveted trophy, have bolstered their chances of winning the same by robbing the superstar from the heart of Santiago Bernabeu.

They are already on to a perfect start in the Italian League and would look forward to keep the winning momentum going.

Manchester United have recovered from the initial jolts in the Premier League and would continue their winning run when they face off the Young Boys from Switzerland in the opener. Romelu Lukaku would look to continue his run from the Premier League.

The presence of Valencia in the group should have made it a certain group of death, however, their worst start to the La Liga puts a question mark to this claim. Young Boys could give a nightmare in their hope of redemption via Europa League.

Cristiano alone is the strongest attack in the tournament and is now backed by a strong defence at the back.

Therefore, his pursuit of a sixth Champions League title might be a worthy one that would cement his place as the greatest of all time in the history of the game.

Whether or not the AEMET, the Spanish Meteorological Department, has given such forecast, yet we could be pretty sure that somewhere in Spain, prayers and chants must have started to stop the catastrophic thunderstorm named Cristiano Ronaldo.

Read here: Champions League 2018/19: Anatomy of the groups - Part 1