UEFA Champions League Group A Preview

The biggest club competition in the world is back. The group stage draw was concluded yesterday in the iconic city of Monaco. Qualifying clubs have kept their schedule tight. History will be created. Players will be immortalized.

GROUP A

Group A might not look interesting without the presence of a big team but it surely has all the elements needed to be entertaining. The group draws similarities to last year’s group consisting of APOEL Nicosia, FC Porto, Zenit St. Petersburg and Shakhtar Donetsk. That group went down to the wire and we can expect similar things from this group.

1) FC Porto (Portugal)

The Portuguese Champions and European Champions of 2004 will be favourites to progress through. Porto were shell-shot last year by underdog team APOEL Nicosia and they would like to avoid such a scene with Dinamo Zagreb and Dynamo Kyiv. PSG will provide a mouth-watering battle to FC Porto. FC Porto have lost only Alvaro Pereira to Inter Milan and remain strong enough to challenge for the top spot in this group.

KEY PLAYER: Hulk Givanildo

Hulk will be keen to show Europe that he is a top talent

Other Key Players: Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez and Lucho Gonzalez

2) FC Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine)

The 13 time Ukrainian champions will be keen to improve their performance from last year when they were drawn against Barcelona and AC Milan. This must be an easier challenge than last year. Dynamo Kyiv have snapped up quality players like Niko Krankjar, Taye Taiwo and Miguel Veloso. They also have an exciting crop of young players expected to rise on the major platform.

KEY PLAYER: Andriy Yarmolenko

Other key players : Miguel Veloso, Niko Krankjar and Brown Ideye Aide

3) Paris Saint Germain (France)

Paris Saint Germain’s dominance of the summer transfer market saw them capture world class players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva and Ezequiel Lavezzi. They will hope that their economic strength will produce fruitful results on the pitch. PSG have drawn a group where they are expected to finish top with the squad that they currently possess. They have Carlo Ancellotti, a manager who has already won the Champions League on two occasions, to help them achieve a finish at the top of the table. PSG should try to get rid of complacency which cost them dear in the race for last year’s Ligue 1 title.

KEY PLAYER: Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Will Zlatan Ibrahimovic finally exorcize his Champions League demons?

Other key players : Thiago Silva, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore

4) GNK Dinamo Zagreb ( Croatia)

The 14 time Croatian champions will be treated as pushovers in this group. They showed fighting spirit but lacked the cutting edge in a difficult group including Real Madrid last year. Can their spirit win matches? Will they be able to beat teams with better resources? It looks highly unlikely that they will pose a challenge to the bigger teams of this group.

KEY PLAYER: Jorge Sammir

Sammir’s goalscoring efforts from midfield have drawn attention to a host of clubs

Other key players : Jerko Leko, Domagoj Vida and Dije Cop