UEFA Champions League Preview – Group G

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will go against another again, but this time in the Champions League. The two superstars are together in Group G of the Champions League, where besides Juventus and Barcelona, we have the Hungarian champions, Ferencvaros and Dynamo Kyiv. Having these two guys will make this assembly very interesting for watching.

Juventus

The Old Lady did win the Italian Serie A trophy, but that wasn’t the primary goal last year. It was the Champions League, where Juve suffered a sensational exit in the round of 16 against Lyon.

There were some changes in the roster, as Juve swapped players with Barcelona, sending Miralem Pjanic to Spain and getting Arthur instead. Young Chiesa arrived from Fiorentina and Weston McKenna from Schalke.

Juve has several interesting youngsters who are slowly imposing themselves as serious options like Kulisevski, Bentancur, Chiesa and De Light, and it is expected from them to be the fresh blood and bring energy into the team

Barcelona

Ronald Koeman came to town as the savior. We’ll see if he manages to handle all the pressure placed upon his back. The Dutch legend is also a former player and one of the greatest names in Barca’s history, and it is expected from the fans to stand behind him in the beginning.

We already saw his first moves, once he decided to get rid of several big names, among them Luis Suarez, Vidal, etc. Sergino Dest was his desire, and Blaugrana snapped the right-back from Ajax in the sunset of the transfer window.

We expect a bit faster Barcelona without too many passes behind or anything like that. Koeman will try to bring back the spirit of Cruyff’s Barca on the pitch, and that is constant pressure and flamboyant attack.

Ferencvaros

The Hungarian champions are one very modest team, who considers the advance to the UCL group stage its highlight of the recent history. Even though this is a team with a rich and interesting background, Hungarian football is not as powerful as before.

Their biggest signing this summer was around $2 million, which tells a lot about their capacities. Molde was Ferencvaros’ opponent in the playoffs, and they Hungarians advanced because of an away goal, 0-0 at home 3-3 on the road.

They are the underdog in the group, and it would be sensational to see them anywhere else but at the bottom of the group.

Dynamo Kyiv

Unlike before, the Ukrainian powerhouse will rely upon young players in this edition of the Champions League. We are sure that all the passionate football fans remember Dynamo as the club that always had at least three or four 30+year players who were the crucial pieces of the team.

But that is not the case now. This is a group of young guys, many of them part of that new wave of the Ukrainian players that conquered the world at the latest U20 World Cup.

They too, came through the playoffs, but Dynamo eliminated solid teams on their way here, the likes of Dutch AZ Alkmaar and Belgium’s Gent. So far, this group didn’t lose a single match since the start of the season.

Prediction

Everything is obvious here. Juve and Barce will take the top two places, Dynamo will be third and Ferencvaros last. The Hungarians will probably suffer a couple of catastrophies along the way, but that won’t hurt them a lot.