Three Must-Watch Champions League Group Stage Matchups
This year’s Champions League draw is a wild one and there are some massively intriguing group stage matchups.
The UEFA Champions League groups were announced on Thursday and my goodness are there some intriguing matchups.
Group H immediately jumps out at you like nothing you’ve ever seen before with the likes of Dortmund, Spurs and Real Madrid. Group F isn’t too shabby either with Manchester City and Napoli and when you look at it, there really isn’t a bad group so to speak.
Group A may be the ‘dull’ one of the bunch while, again, Group H is just bizarre. Regardless, there are three matchups that we’ll see in the group stage that could turn into absolute classics.
Chelsea vs. Atletico Madrid
These teams are very similar which could mean their matches could turn into snooze fests with their bend don’t break styles we see so often or it could be an electrifying matchup with one or both teams trying to push making the counter attacking matchup of the year; let’s hope for the latter.
Chelsea was the last Premier League club to win the Champions League back in 2012 while Atletico has made the final twice since 2013–14. Atletico knocked out Chelsea in the 2014 semifinal so the teams also have a little bit of history there as well, albeit years ago.
Antoine Griezmann going up against the men in blue, you can’t not be excited about that.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Real Madrid
This matchup may not be in other people’s top three group stage matches, but there is no question that this one will be exciting. It goes without saying that Madrid will be a heavy favorite, but Spurs have the attacking personnel to make things interesting.
Tottenham is that ‘sexy team’ in the Premier League and has been for a couple of seasons now. The likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli highlight the squad and if a few bounces fall their way, maybe they could pull off the upset? Nevertheless, this is a matchup everyone should take time to watch. The two group stage matches may be worth watching for 15 minutes , or a full 90 with Spurs giving the big boys in white all they want.
Madrid has won three of the last four Champions League Finals including last year’s over Juventus.
Bayern Munich v. Paris Saint-Germain
There isn’t too much to say here. You’ve got Neymar going up against the Bundesliga king. It’s a matchup of the old-school regulars against the new-look kids on the block.
These two last played one another in the 2001 Champions League where Munich blanked PSG 2–0 before eventually being crowned champions.
This could be the highest scoring group matchup we’ve seen in years, if we’re lucky, but in all honesty there is so much talent on that field at once it’s going to be absolutely magical to watch.
