Champions League Matchday 3 Preview
Matchday Three is always massive in the Champions League. If teams don’t bounce back after disappointing starts, they can soon find themselves out of their group. On the other hand, if you build on a good start with a win here, you’ll often find the second half of the group stage to be easier.
Note: This article was written before many of the weekend’s matches… Apologies if there’s any massive time-related errors. Also, keep in the loop for a podcast preview coming up with a special guest!
Group A
There’s already a bit of a gap opening up in Group A. Bayern look like the best team in the tournament (dare I say, best team in the world?) and face a Salzburg side who were kinda unlucky with their score against Atletico Madrid in the last matchday. It was an 85th minute winner from Joao Felix that won the game for the Spanish side.
Salzburg are a capable team and can play some great football, and on their day can pull off an upset. But for me, it would be just that… an upset. I’d expect Bayern to make light work of the Austrian champions.
Likewise, Atletico Madrid face an Lokomotiv Moskva team that put up a gallant display against Bayern. Atletico are still finding form, and bounced back well to win after the humiliation against Bayern. They should win this too, and widen the gap between them and third place.
Joao Felix had a great day out in Matchday 2, and I hope he can continue his form!
Players to Watch in Group A
Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid)
Patson Daka (RB Salzburg)
Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Salzburg)
Kingsley Coman (Bayern)
Robert Lewandowski (Bayern)
Group B
This is probably my favorite group in the Champions League this season. All four teams are pretty evenly matched, and the team that finishes fourth here would probably qualify in some other groups (*cough* Group C *cough).
And a sneaky sub-plot to this group is Real Madrid potentially not making it through the group! They play an Inter side who, while not winning, have been playing some incredibly football so far in the first two matches.
If Inter win that matchup, Madrid will be on one point after 3 games and will have a bit of a mountain to climb to get out of the group.
Meanwhile, Shakhtar Donetsk play Mönchengladbach in a match that can be huge for the winner. Basically, the winner of this game will be either top, or equal top of the group at the halfway point.
Both of these sides have a bit to them too. I love Mönchengladbach’s attack, and they are usually a great team to watch. Marcus Thuram is a stud, and I think it’s a matter of time before he moves on. To be honest, I think the reason he stayed this season is that Gladbach were in the Champions League.
Shakhtar tend to have a conveyor belt of young South American talent coming through the club. In fact, of the 23 players who were in Brazil’s last World Cup, five started their European career in Shakhtar. To my knowledge, this comes down to a few things:
Shakhtar offer great money to their top-end talent
There’s Brazilian guys already there, so they have a connection when they join
Starting at Shakhtar before moving on to a bigger club is a proven path these days, with a bunch of players having done it already
Of the current crop, Tete is probably my favorite prospect, and I expect him to have a big game this time around.
Players to Watch in Group B
Romelu Lukaku (Inter)
Achraf Hakimi (Inter)
Lautaro Martínez (Inter)
Tete (Shakhtar) - Note, he only has Match Attax from what I have found
Marcus Thuram (Gladbach)
Breel Embolo (Gladbach)
Karim Benzema (Madrid)
Sergio Ramos (Madrid)
Group C
We’ve gone from the most interesting group, to what I believe is the least interesting group here.
Manchester City have looked a class above so far this Champions League (too bad we can’t say that for the Premier League), and should tell the same story against Olympiacos.
However, there’s something going on at City right now, and I can’t put my finger on it. I know they’ve got some injuries to deal with, but they’re not alone there. There are some games where they look incredibly flat. Hopefully it’s just the whole ‘short offseason’ thing and they’re back soon.
Elsewhere Porto are playing Marseille in what’s a must-win if the French side want to have any chance on getting out of this group. If Porto get the win here, and I’d expect them to, they’ll be a game clear of third, and in with a great chance qualifying.
Players to Watch in Group C
Ferran Torres (Man City)
Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)
Phil Foden (Man City)
Raheem Sterling (Man City)
Sorry to the three other teams, there’s nobody moving the needle for me here…
Group D
I think my favorite match of this matchday will be Atalanta vs Liverpool. The two best sides in this group (although Ajax are frisky), and two sides with a lot of questions.
Liverpool are a team torn apart with injuries. Just check this for a run…
Liverpool don’t sign a defender in the offseason, stating the club’s best defendive midfielder, Fabinho, is a capable replacement if needed
The best defender on the planet, Virgil van Dijk is injured for the season
Fabinho replaces Virgil and is almost instantly injured himself
Runs like that can really put a side behind the 8-ball. But, to Liverpool’s credit, they’re holding the fort somewhat and and two wins from two games in the group.
It will be interesting to see how they tackle team lineups and squad rotation over the next few weeks. They have a lot of games coming up and will need to manage that well.
Atalanta, on the other hand, are not doing great in Italy, and have had a few losses early in the season. I think there’s potential in this team to suffer from a short off-season, but it’ll be interesting to see how they look going forward.
Duván Zapata will want to have a big game against a weakened Liverpool defense, and will try to isolate whoever they have as a second CB in some aerial duels.
Ajax will want to keep up the pace with the group leaders against a Midtjylland side that are a little out of their depth here.
Don’t get me wrong, Midtjylland are a super-interesting team and have been a bit of a trailblazer in regards to advanced analytics and data in the sport. I do think they’re still a step below an Ajax side that are in hot form.
Players to Watch in Group D
Mario Pasalic (Atalanta)
Duván Zapata (Atalanta)
Diego Jota (Liverpool)
Mo Salah (Liverpool)
Lassina Traoré (Ajax) - There’s not a lot of product for Traore at the moment, but you might get lucky.
Group E
Chelsea got pretty lucky in this group, and should have an easy path to qualification while they sort out their lineups.
They are a team club has just assembled a bunch of similar attacking players and now have to work out a way to make them all fit together which is a lot easier said than done.
To me, it kinda shows that either:
Lampard has no idea how he wants the team to play
The board don’t give a fuck what Lampard thinks and just buy players
As always, the answer is probably a bit of both…
Anyway, it’s now Lampard’s job to construct a lock to fit the key he’s been given - and he’ll have a chance to do so against Rennes side that have been pretty ordinary so far.
However, Chelsea have been dissapointing and unorganized defensively this season. Granted, Kepa made a lot of mistakes as the Goalkeeper, but his performances took a lot of attention off a poor defensive display all-round. I’d like to see what young Belgian international, Jeremy Doku can do against that backline.
The other main team to watch here are Sevilla, the current Europa League champs, and arguably the best team in the group. They play FC Krasnodar from Russia, and should be able to knock them off in this match. Sevilla should have a lot of the ball here, and create enough chances to win this match.
However, Sevilla have been somewhat suspect defending down the wing, and that’s one of Krasnodar’s strengths, so if you squint a little you might be able to see them snatch a few goals here. Unlikely though.
Players to Watch in Group E
Jeremy Doku (Rennes)
Christian Pulisic (Chelsea)
Timo Werner Rookie (Chelsea)
Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea)
Luuk de Jong (Sevilla)
Munir El Haddadi (Sevilla)
Group F
Another sneaky-interesting group is Group F. Interesting result-wise, and COVID-wise too.
The Brugge and Lazio draw last week turned a few heads, and probably could have come away with a win against a COVID-depleted Lazio.
They had most of the ball, and took more shots than their Italian rivals.
However, this week they play against a Dortmund team that will look to get their second win and leapfrog Brugge into second in the standings.
It’s a bit of a must-win for Dortmund. A loss here will make the gap four points to Brugge, and with a Lazio match in matchday four, they’ll want to get a win on the board.
On the flipside, if Brugge go at Dortmund, and get a few early goals, then who knows… If they can extend that lead to four point over Dortmund they’ll fancy their chances going through.
Lazio are leading the group, but they’ve got more COVID cases than some countries at the moment, so it’s hard to know what to predict from them… You don’t know who will show up.
Still, unless it’s even worse than I think it is and their under 21 side shows up, they should still manage a win here against Zenit.
Players to Watch in Group F
Krépin Diatta (Brugge)
Siebe Schrijvers (Brugge)
Erling Haaland (Dortmund)
Giovanni Reyna (Dortmund)
Group G
If there are two big clubs that couldn’t afford to be in a ‘group of death’ this season it’s Juve and Barca. And, luckily, they got a somewhat easy draw.
Juventus were so bad against Barcelona, that former Italian coach Fabio Capello came out with this:
"Juve suffered a lot…. They played against a Barcelona in crisis and yet I was struck by the difference in quality, their superiority to a top Italian team.
"What impressed me most was how quick Barcelona were. They could have scored eight goals tonight and this is what makes me doubt what we have here at home in Italy."
Yikes…. You know a loss is bad when you second question an entire nation.
Anyway, the Italian champs will look to bounce back over the Hungarian side, Ferencvaros, who are the bottom of the group.
On pure talent alone, Juventus will win this. However, Pirlo has a lot to do tactically with this side. While they are missing Ronaldo (seriously, does nobody care that Cristiano Ronaldo has COVID?), they still have the quality to be playing better than they have been.
Besides, Ronaldo is back in scoring form, hitting two on the weekend.
However, Pirlo is fresh into his managerial career, and you can’t hire an unproven manager and expect them to be great from the start. Juve have shown to be pretty impatient with managers though, so it’ll be interesting.
Likewise, Barca, have had an up and down start to the season. The Bartomeu saga is over now, and we’ll see what lingering impact that had on the players - Messi in particular.
The Argentine master was in top form against Juve, and he’ll want to continue his run of form against Dynamo Kyiv.
Barca have had some formation changes and have flipped between a few different styles of play. However, all in all, Koeman is doing a decent job of turning this aged side into one with a brighter future. Fti, - let’s just hope it isn’t at the determent of the present.
While Kyiv can be a pretty frisky side when they’re in form, but Barca will make light work of them.
Players to Watch in Group G
Ansu Fati (Barcelona)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
Sergino Dest (Barcelona)
Ousmane Dembélé (Barcelona)
Dejan Kulusevski (Juventus)
Álvaro Morata (Juventus)
Group H
Another super-interesting group, H could see another upset.
Man United have been on fire this Champions League, beating two best sides in the group heading into the tournament. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has seemingly worked out that his side are far better on the counter, and has adjusted positions and lineups to match.
Granted, both wins here are against teams that suit playing a counter against, but they should still beat Istanbul here and make it a perfect start.
Red Bull Leipzig were outclassed by Man United, but I think they’re a good match up for PSG, who I think could be a danger of missing qualification if they lose this match.
Leipzig are a top side despite what they showed last week, and I fully expect them to take the match to an underperforming Paris team.
I’m talking myself into supporting ultimate chaos and picking Leipzig to win this.
Players to Watch in Group H
Marcus Rashford (Manchester United)
Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Neymar (PSG)
Moise Kean (PSG)
Justin Kluivert (Red Bull)
Dani Olmo (Red Bull)