The most interesting club tournament 2018-19 UEFA Champions League is upon us.
Manchester City are clear favourites to walk away as victors of Group F but will Lyon, Hoffenheim, or Shakhtar Donetsk be joining them in the Knockout Rounds?
City are one of the favourites to win the competition. With quality and depth all over the park, losing Kevin De Bruyne for the group stage is shockingly manageable for the “citizens” who have Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez to pick up the slack. Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus will lead the line and it is less a question of who will get the goals.
How did they qualify: Manchester City qualified directly into the Group Stage by winning the 2017-18 English Premier League.
Lyon are a team who are consistently poached in the transfer market yet continue to reload and remain competitive. Losing the likes of Corentin Tolisso, Alexandre Lacazette and, most recently, Mariano Diaz could prove catastrophic for most clubs, but they continue to find a way. Despite losing the aforementioned Mariano to Real Madrid, Lyon have been able to keep hold of a solid core consisting of Memphis Depay, Bertrand Traore, Nabil Fekir, Lucas Tousart, and Tanguy Ndombele. With the ability of new-signing, Moussa Dembele to lead the line in place of Mariano will be two deciding factors in Lyon’s ability to make a run in the knockout rounds of the competition.
How did they qualify: Lyon qualified directly into the Group Stage by finishing in third place in the 2017-18 French Ligue 1.
To secure a trip to the next round, Hoffenheim will likely to look to muck each game up and look to capitalize on the scoring ability of Andrej Kramaric and Adam Szalai, while Florian Grillitsch will look to provide defensive stability from the midfield in front of Kevin Vogt and Pavel Kaderabek. In addition, goalkeeper Oliver Baumann will likely be put to the test by each of Group F teams.
How did they qualify: Hoffenheim qualified directly into the Group Stage by finishing in third place in the 2017-18 German Bundesliga.
It was another summer of massive turnover for the Ukrainian club that gave us Douglas Costa once upon a time. The new crop of young Brazilians is as promising and interesting as ever: central midfielder Maycon (20) and wingers Fernando (19) and Marquinhos Cipriano (19) are the raw youngsters to watch, but for now Shakhtar has plenty of Brazilian and Ukrainian veterans to fill its ranks.
How did they qualify: Shakhtar Donetsk qualified directly into the Group Stage by winning the 2017-18 Ukrainian Premier League.
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