UEFA Champions League Group A – Preview and Prediction

The UEFA Champions League group stage has been done, and we now have all eight assemblies completed with 32 participants divided across the same. Our preview begins with Group A, which consists of Ajax, Liverpool, Napoli, and the Glasgow Rangers.

Ajax

The Dutch champs lost a few valuable pieces this summer, the most important Sebastien Haller, Lisandro Martinez, Ryan Gravenberch, and probably Anthony, who will leave the team soon to join Manchester. More importantly, they lost Erik Ten Hag, the head coach and team leader over the last couple of years.

On the other end, this team did land a few stand-out talents who could become world-class players, like Owen Wijndal, Brian Brobbey, or Calvin Bassey. The Lancers still have Dusan Tadic, the unit’s heart and soul, but overall, it seems they are a bit weaker than before.

Liverpool

The Reds opened the year slower than expected, but in Jurgen Klopp’s case, that doesn’t have to mean anything. Mane is gone, but Darwin Nunez is in, and we believe that L’Pool didn’t lose on its quality a lot. The attack is quietly changed in less than a year, because we expect to see Firmino leaving soon. Apart from Salah, the leaders up front are Nunez and Diaz.

The back-line is intact, and that is maybe the biggest strength of the Reds. Virgil Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson are already together for a while, presenting a bossy crew to reckon with.

Napoli

Huge changes struck the team from South of Italy, with them losing Insigne, Koulibaly, Milik, and Mertens. It seems that one generation is gone and that this time marks the start of another era in this club’s history.

Younger players are brought to San Paolo Stadium, like Leo Ostigard or Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, who could become very good in the future and very profitable for Napoli. Of more notable names, Giovanni Simeone, arrived from Hellas Verona and Giacomo Raspadori came from Sassuolo. Partenopei are a true enigma for all of us, and they will be battling for the second spot in the assembly with Ajax.

Rangers

The Gers quite the challenging qualifiers for the UCL, where they eliminated PSV in Eindhoven, which is a very big deal. The team is more or less limited, without some big stars and names, but with one hell of a crowd behind them, and incredible determination and persistence.

Scots don’t have the financial resources to compete with other clubs in the Champions League and have to sell all of their best players. Calvin Bassey left this summer for Ajax, and it will be interesting to see him against his old team.

Prediction

Liverpool will take the top spot here, while Napoli and Ajax have to battle for the second. For the moment, we give more chances to the Lancers, who look like they have more talent in the squad than the Italians. Meanwhile, the Gers will be last, waiting for a chance to surprise someone at home. It will be quite a surprise if they avoid the last place in Group A.