Champions League Predictions 23/24
The biggest competition in club football starts this week with Man City looking to begin their title defence of the Champions Leagues. Although it is only early stages, the games still have importance with the potential of some big teams falling out of the competition early. I will be running through some of my early predictions for the tournament.
Winners
Starting with the winners, there are a few favourites to choose from. Man City, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid all look like strong shouts given the strengths of their teams, managers, and depth. However, I will be predicting an outside shout for winners, a team who was really impressive last year in the Champions League - Inter Milan. In their domestic league, they are yet to drop any points and thrashed their rivals AC Milan 5-1 in the derby. Over their first 4 games, they have scored 11 goals and conceded just 1. This highlights just how defensively solid they are in addition to their prowess going forward. On top of that, they have a group where they are just a level above their opposition meaning them dropping out early should not be of any concern.
Over the summer they lost Onana, Skriniar, Brozovic, Pinamonti, and Gosens. They managed to amass over €130m in player sales but did lose a couple of key players in the process. However, that doesn’t seem to have caught up with them yet. They went back into the market and secured signatures from Marcus Thuram, Benjamin Pavard, Yann Sommer, Acerbi and Davide Frattesi. Adding these players to their squad on top of some top-class talent like Barella, Martinez, Dumfries and Bastoni puts them in an exciting position where they can have another charge for the Champions League after falling at the last hurdle in a really competitive final.
Dark Horses
Sticking with the Italian theme, my dark horse is AC Milan. They are 7-time winners of the cup but have been dealt a bad hand being placed in the group of death with the likes of PSG, Dortmund, and Newcastle. I still think they have the quality and depth to get out of this group behind PSG, but it will be tight. Last year they managed to make it to the semi-final, and everyone seems to have forgotten that. In their ties against Inter Milan their star man Leao was out with an injury, and they had no other attacking threat. Over the summer they signed Pulisic, Chukwueze and Okafor, 3 attacking talents who will be ready to be called upon and play under the lights on a Champions League night at the San Siro. With Leao back fit, he alone has the star power to burst through any defence in Europe which gives them a real edge. They have a dynamic backline with Theo Hernandez who has been exceptional over the past year, and Tomori at centre-back with one of the world's best keepers behind him, Mike Maignan. Despite their midfield looking a little light with the departure of Tonali who plays against his former side tonight, they recruited Loftus Cheek from Chelsea who has adapted to his role at AC Milan quickly being a big figure in the middle of the park.
Flops
One team that’s had an underwhelming start to the season is Man United and I've got them in as my flops of the tournament. Over the past year, they have had really good home form but have looked fragile in recent weeks, losing to Brighton 3-1 on the weekend and conceding 2 in 5 minutes to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford who narrowly escaped relegation last season. Furthermore, their away form has been extraordinarily poor. Last season against the top 9 teams in the league they lost 7 games and managed 1 draw and have lost against Spurs and Arsenal away already this season.
They will be reliant on their home form to get them through their group as they travel to Munich on Wednesday to face Bayern. Galatasaray are also in their group and that is going to be another tough away day for them in a hostile environment. Copenhagen also has good home form in the Champions League, holding both Man City and Dortmund to draws last season. If Man United don’t win their home games, they could be in real danger of dropping out in the group stages. They have also been riddled with injuries; Varane, Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, Amrabat and Mount are all sidelined and this could cause them even more issues than they already have.
