THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TO DATE – Part 1


By PAW    08-Nov-2013 15:15 UTC+02:00

Most probably the most popular soccer tournament in the world, the Champions League attracts a lot of attention in a wide range of circles. After this week’s set of results, each team has played four matches out of a possible six in the eight groups of four teams. This is an attempt to analyse the groups individually and try and draw tentative conclusions as to which teams will triumph in the group.

Group A is probably the easiest that Man United have had in a long time. After playing four matches, they are at eight points, having won two and drawn two, the best one an interesting 4-2 at home over second placed Bayer Leverkusen and their worst and most probably the most telling being the latest draw with Real Sociodad at Old Trafford. The German outfit, at five points after winning one match and drawing two with one loss, have an impressive home record one of which was an emphatic 4-0 drubbing of minnows, Shakhtar Donetsk. Third comes little known Shakhtar Donetsk at five points and bring up the rear is the Spanish team of Real Sociodad with a single point from a draw against Manchester United. This is still technically an open group since the lowest team seems to find it easy to handle and draw with the top team in the group. Anything could still happen.

Group B is completely dominated by Spanish giants Real Madrid who have easily amassed ten points from three wins and a single draw. They have been impressive record. Their best performance was a 6-1 demolition of Turkish giants, Galatasaray in their own backyard! Talk about embarrassment! Galatasaray are tied at second place with FC Copenhagen, both outfits having lost two, won one and draw the other of their four encounters in the group. Bringing up the rear are the dramatic French, Juventus who are yet to win a single match, their three points coming from three draws. Something needs to be done here!

Group C is another story! All the four teams are separated by three points which means that a single set of games will upset the whole status quo. David Beckam’s former team, French giants, Paris St Germaine are leading the pack, followed by the Greeks, Olympiakos with seven points from four matches. Third comes Benefica, a Portuguese team which just lost their last match to Olympiakos by one goal to nil. At the bottom of the group log are Belgian team, John van den Brom managed team who have a single point from their latest encounter away to PSG. This result, more than anything else, underlines the argument that a single match could change a lot.

Group D is completely dominated by the German team, Bayern Munich who are yet to lose a point. They have collected all the possible points of twelve with Manchester City breathing down their neck at nine points. This means that if they falter in one game, it could be a death race to the finish line. At third place are Russian giants, CSKA Moscow with three points from their single win at home to bottom of the log, Viktoria Plzen who are still to get a single point from their campaign in the Champions League.

This marks the one half of the Champions League. Join us again here tomorrow for the next results based analysis of the biggest and best international club league.


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