Pretenders and Contenders: Predicting the Champions League Group Stage

Group G: CSKA Moscow (Russia), Real Madrid (Spain), AS Roma (Italy), Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)

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Real Madrid's Gareth Bale

Prediction:

1. Real Madrid
2. AS Roma
3. CSKA Moscow
4. Viktoria Plzen

Let's address the elephant in the room. Real Madrid have lost their all-time leading goal scorer, 5-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo. Will they be able to cope? Yes, easily. Though Ronaldo's individual brilliance led them to an unprecedented 3 Champions League trophies in a row, he often overshadowed his other immensely talented teammates.

Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema are enjoying a renaissance of sorts in La Liga now that they are the team's primary attacking option. Benzema alone has already scored 4 goals in 4 games (he scored 5 in 32 last season!). Luka Modric, meanwhile, is in the midst of his greatest ever year, winning both the UEFA Player of the Year award and the World Cup Golden Ball. Though they might not be able to make it 4 consecutive titles, they should be able to make it their first group win since 2015.

Last season's surprise package Roma wound up in the semi-final after an unforgettable 4-4 aggregate win versus Barcelona, which included a 3-0 drubbing at the Stadio Olimpico. Revamping their attack and midfield by replacing Radja Nainggolan and Kevin Strootman with World Cup victor Steven Nzonzi (Sevilla, 26.65 million euros), Javier Pastore (PSG, 24.70 million euros) and Dutch prodigy Justin Kluivert (Ajax, 17.25 million euros) would put them in an even better position than last year if not for the departure of Alisson Becker to Liverpool.

Russian heavyweights CSKA Moscow will be heading into their 6th consecutive season of Champions League football, but they simply lack the necessary pedigree to make it in the competition, as they haven't made it out of the group stage 2012. However, if their Russian core of Igor Akinfeev, Mario Fernandes and Alan Dzagoev perform the same miracles they did at the World Cup, they might stand a chance. The losses of Aleksandr Golovin and Vitinho, two of their best players, will hurt though.

Viktoria Plzen, who are currently enjoying the most fruitful spell in club history with 5 Czech league titles since 2010 and several Europa and Champions League appearances to show for it, will most likely find themselves outclassed by the other teams in the group.