Champions League Preview C-D

Group C

Barcelona

This group is very interesting because there are two outstanding sides, and with Pep Guardiola and Claudio Bravo returning to Barcelona, it looks to be the standout fixture in the whole of the group stages. Barcelona are, as always, a favourite to win the competition, but with Pep returning for the second time with a very strong side, it looks to be a lot harder for than Catalan club than previous seasons. They could be under serious threat this season and you could see them come second in this group, which would see them face a top placed team in the last 16. They need to ensure that they beat the other two sides home and away to ensure it is them in the driving seat. They have a fantastic squad but they need to prove how good they are.

Manchester City

This could potentially be the best Manchester City side for generations, if not ever. They have competed domestically for the last 5 years and last season they were one step away from the final of the Champions League. Being in the second pot it is likely you will face a top side, like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Barcelona but this could be the year that they really prove they're good enough to challenge them. They have possibly the best coach in the world, one of the best strikers in the world, a plethora of midfield talent and creativity and a defence that their manager is making his own. They have been vulnerable and naive to the better sides in this competition in recent years but this really could be the year that they compete to win this.

Borussia Monchengladbach

In recent years they have been impressive domestically and they always seem to get a hard group in the Champions League. They are a club that always seems to go under the radar and you never notice them. It is always Leverkusen, Dortmund, and Bayern that are spoken about and everyone writes off Gladbach but they really aren't that bad. They have one of the best young centre midfielders in Germany in Mahmoud Dahoud. He formed a good partnership with Granit Xhaka last season but of course he is no longer there. They have replaced him with Christoph Kramer and they also have other talented players with Raffael, Thorgan Hazard, brother of Eden, and Andreas Christensen, who is on loan for another season from Chelsea. They could challenge City and Barca but I wouldn't count on them progressing.

Celtic

What a challenge they face. Celtic haven't been at this stage for a few years now but they have managed to beat Barcalona before. They may not have the strongest squad but they do feel they belong here. They have a harder test in the league this season with the Old Firm returning but they need to realise they need to compete on this stage as well, although there will be less pressure. They have signed good players as well. Mousa Dembele could be a good signing because he could easily move on in a few years to bigger things for a decent amount of money. But they have also signed players with experience in the Premier League such as Scott Sinclair, Christian Gamboa and Kolo Toure., so this could be interesting to see how they do but it's very hard to see them getting out of this group.

Sky Bet Prediction

1st - Barcelona

2nd - Manchester City

3rd - Borussia Monchengladbach

4th - Celtic

My Prediction

1st - Barcelona

2nd - Manchester City

3rd - Borussia Monchengladbach

4th - Celtic

Group D

Bayern Munich

Again, one of the favourites for the tournament, they are now managed by serial winner, especially in the Champions League, in Carlo Ancelotti. His victories for AC Milan and for Real Madrid have seen his reputation grow massively and now he finds an opportunity to do it again with a fantastically talented squad. He could easily go on to win the Champions League, with the solid defence they have, the best goalkeeper in the world, a midfield packed with talent, and a front line with goal-scoring prowess. They have a lot of older players still such as Ribery and Robben, and also Lahm but they're experience is always a good thing to have. They also have talented youngsters in Kimmich and Renato Sanches and they could really push for greatness under the Italian.

Atletico Madrid

They have been so successful the last few years. Challenging for both domestic and European titles has been a fantastic achievement for Simone and his players, and with the consistency they have produced they now have pressure to keep performing so people will expect them to challenge once again. They have a fantastic squad now, with the likes of Griezmann and Godin being their two best players, they have found solidarity through the rest of the squad. Oblak is one of the best young goalkeepers in the world and they have a fantastically well drilled defence. They didn't spend huge amounts of money this summer but they kept their best players which was key and added Gameiro to help Griezmann and Gaitan to give them more width. They could be quiet contenders once again, but Bayern Munich are the team to beat in this competition.

PSV

They aren't the side that can challenge the better teams really. They have been able to win the Eredivise twice in a row, but that is not the greatest achievement anymore. They play in a league where you develop good players but eventually they move on to bigger and better things. You look at Depay and Wijnaldum, they were too good for PSV but they can't even sparkle in the Premier League yet, although Wijnaldum is now finding his feet at Liverpool. They do still have some decent players in Guardado, Willems, the De Jong brothers, and Hector Moreno, but can you really expect them to compete with the other two? Not in my opinion.

Rostov

Champions League newcomer, Rostov are the closest thing to Leicester City we can see. They were relegation battlers in Russia in 2014-15, only for them to be title challengers the next season, however, they did not win the title and instead lost the crown to CSKA, meaning they finished second. They may be full of unfamiliar faces, but they have produced something remarkable to end up in the group stages. They managed to see off Anderlecht and Ajax on their way to this stage, even beating the latter, 5-1 on aggregate. This may stop the rest of the group taking the game lightly against them. They will most likely be a neutral favourite due to their underdog status, but I don't think that will boost their chances of progression.

Sky Bet Prediction

1st - Bayern Munich

2nd - Atletico Madrid

3rd - PSV

4th - Rostov

My Prediction

1st - Bayern Munich

2nd - Atletico Madrid

3rd - PSV

4th - Rostov