With two all-England Champions League finals in the past three years, the Premier League is without a doubt the home of Europe’s top clubs at the moment.
And if the opening round of group games is any indication, the Premier League should once again provide a number of top contenders to win this year’s title.
But Bayern Munich, who won the title two years ago, are also very much in the conversation as they displayed their dominance at the Camp Nou while representatives from Spain and Italy failed to impress.
Read on below for SBOTOP’s three key takeaways from Matchday 1 of the Champions League group stage.
Premier League teams show they’re still top contenders
England was the big winner of the opening round of the Champions League group stage, with three of the four Premier League clubs coming away victorious.
Manchester City romped to a 6-3 win over struggling RB Leipzig, Liverpool overcame a spirited Milan side in a 3-2 win, and defending champions Chelsea took care of business with a 1-0 win over Zenit.
Meanwhile, Manchester United were on their way to victory away to Young Boys – thanks to another Cristiano Ronaldo goal – until Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s red card, then gave away a point by gifting the hosts a dramatic late winner.
Of the four, Man United are the least likely to mount a legitimate title challenge. But with the wealth of talent on their squad, it is certainly within the realm of possibility that they make another European final run this year.
Clearly, though, City, Chelsea, and Liverpool look like three of the top five teams in Europe. Chelsea admittedly looked unconvincing against Zenit, but they remain undefeated this season. Also, Romelu Lukaku – who scored the winner over Zenit – has already made them even better than they were last year, so they have quite a decent shot at defending their title.
And barring any catastrophic injury crises, expect Pep Guardiola’s City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool to be there or thereabouts once again in the latter stages of the tournament.
Bayern still among the best, PSG still a work in progress
On paper, the only other clubs who look capable of competing against the Premier League giants are Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, who played in the final in between the two all-England affairs.
Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern certainly proved they are still among Europe’s elite as they followed up their 4-1 hammering of RB Leipzig by dismantling Barcelona 3-0 away from home. This Barca side is arguably worse than the one Bayern humiliated 8-2 last year, and Bayern barely even broke a sweat to win so convincingly at the Camp Nou.
With Robert Lewandowski still banging in the goals – he had a brace against Barca, extending his amazing scoring streak to 18 straight games – Dayot Upamecano already making a difference in defence and young Jamal Musiala emerging as a star, Bayern are once again looking quite formidable.
On the other side, PSG were far from convincing as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Club Brugge in the first game that Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe have started together.
Despite their awesome attacking talent, PSG were significantly outshot, 16-9. And to make matters worse, Mbappe picked up an ankle injury and had to be subbed off.
Clearly, coach Mauricio Pochettino still has a lot of work to do in terms of turning this collection of superstars into a cohesive unit, particularly in defence.
But even in their current state, PSG look no worse than the fifth-best club in Europe since hardly anyone from Spain or Italy seems to have what it takes to contend.
Spanish, Italian clubs fail to impress
There are nine teams from Spain (5) and Italy (4) in this year’s competition, and the Champions League 2021 results of those teams were not all that impressive.
Only two of the nine clubs – Real Madrid and Juventus – got off to winning starts. Two other clubs – Europa League champions Villarreal and Atalanta – played out a 2-2 draw, while Sevilla somehow still drew with RB Salzburg despite going down to 10 men and the Red Bulls getting three first-half penalties.
Juventus thumped Malmo 3-0 to finally give Max Allegri his first win since returning to the club. But as their early form in Serie A has shown, they look far from being a serious contender.
Things are looking a bit rosier for Real, who have won four of their first five games under returning coach Carlo Ancelotti and got their third win in a row over Italian champions Inter thanks to a late Rodrygo goal.
With Spanish champions Atletico – who could only draw at home against Porto – continuing to struggle in Europe, Barca greatly diminished, and Italian clubs lacking in star power after a tough summer, it seems only Real have a realistic chance to make any noise in the Champions League this year.
Still, Real’s Champions League 2021 odds to reclaim their crown are not nearly as good as the top Premier League clubs and Bayern Munich, who have proven they are still the cream of the crop in Europe.
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