Liverpool, Manchester City, Spurs and Chelsea face differing challenges in a Champions League group stage that is likely to be one of the last in the competition’s current formatThe Champions League returns on Tuesday with Liverpool back at the stadium where they won their sixth European crown last year. Atlético Madrid will represent a formidable obstacle as Jürgen Klopp and his players attempt the unlikely feat of reaching a third successive Champions League final in addition to claiming a first English title in 30 years, though of the four English teams aiming for a place in the last eight it could be argued that Liverpool have been best favoured by the draw.It is true that Tottenham’s opponents, RB Leipzig, have...
Recent transfer activity suggests that the La Liga side may be moving towards a more expansive approach to the gameE lite football is more attacking now than at any time since the coming of systematisation in the mid-60s. Between 1994‑95 – when the Champions League first incorporated quarter-finals after the group stage – and 2007-08, there were only two seasons in which an average of more than three goals per game was scored in the knockout stages. Since then there has been only one season when that average has not been higher than 3.0, and in each of the past three it has been higher than 3.5.As José Mourinho’s star has waned, there has been only one real exception to...
For the third year in a row four Premier League clubs are in the last 16, with Manchester City perhaps the most likely winnersWell, fancy seeing you here. For all the pep and vim, the high-energy caffeine-football combinations of Red Bull Salzburg, there was a feeling of certainty about Liverpool’s progress to the last 16 of the Champions League.The ability of Jürgen Klopp’s team to win even when the opposition brings its A-game has been a feature of the season. A simple explanation, beyond luck and “LiVARpool” conspiracy theory, is that their base levels are just so high. This is a team of extreme qualities: physical strength, speed, attacking skills. They have more ways to win, more ways to wear...
Despite the efforts of Dinamo Zagreb, Club Brugge, Slavia Prague and Olympiakos, group stages are still all too predictableWhat have we done to deserve this? The last round of Champions League group fixtures is on us and only half the qualifiers are already known. There will actually be something to play for, intrigue on both nights, which is rare enough by this stage. Football is spoiling us.Liverpool, the holders, could conceivably go out. There’s a head-to-head showdown between Shakhtar Donetsk and Atalanta. There are complicated permutations to determine which two of Chelsea, Ajax and Valencia go through. It has been a better group stage than most. And yet it remains easier for a camel to pass through the eye of...
Napoli have had the better of Liverpool in most of their past four meetings, something future opponents could learn fromFor the opening hour at Anfield the Napoli players must have been tempted to wonder, once again, what exactly all the fuss is around here. Take to the field expecting the red swarm, the hammers of the Premier League, a process of extreme thrashmetal disintegration. And what do you get?Not quite that, it turns out. Napoli have done this four times now in two years. In the first half they had the Premier League leaders pinned, rhythms stilled by the swarm of light-blue shirts around their usual passing triangles. It took Liverpool 35 minutes to muster their first effort on target....