UEFA Champions League Group Stage Draw 2020-21

Sid:

Reigning champions Bayern Munich face Atletico Madrid, who come fresh into this season with their latest signing Luis Suarez. Atletico Madrid kicked out previous champions Liverpool out of the tournament last season and they will be hoping to do the same this year as well. Bayern Munich have continued their super impressive run as they go on to win their six trophy this season to complete their sextuple. Other two teams in the group are Salzburg and Lokomotiv Moskva where Moskva would be more likely to finish third and Salzburg end up at the bottom. The gap between Bayern and Atletico and Salzburg and Moskva is quite big enough that there are no chances of a potential upset and the only competition that is there is between the top two and the bottom two teams.

Videep:

A group that could potentially have more competition for the Europa League spot than the two Round of 16 spots. While Bayern seems indestructible with their attack, they face Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid that has gained fame going all-out defence and bein absolutely lethal in the counter-attack. With the high-line Bayern played last season, could Atletico be exactly the kind of team that could spoil Bayern's party in the Champions League? The other two teams, on the other hand, would want to secure a Europa League spot and I would expect Salzburg to take it.

Sid:

The undisputed kings of the Champions League go up against the Nerazzurri, Shakhtar and Gladbach is a group where Madrid would be hoping to finish at the top as but it will not be a piece of cake as they will be going against the biggest underdogs in Europe, Inter Milan while also going to Ukraine and Germany to face the other two teams who can put up quite a bit of fight as well. Madrid eventually will finish at the top closely followed by Inter Milan while there will be a close call between Shakhtar and Gladbach over who would take the Europa League spot although Shakhtar would be more likely to finish third as Monchengladbach would end up bowing out of the tournament. 

Videep:

With Shakhtar, Inter and Monchengladbach to play against, this group could potentially be the Group of Death. Inter is in stunning form right now, Lukaku and Martinez are scoring, Hakimi seems to be adjusting well; things are really looking bright for them, as they missed out on a RO16 birth last season due to being in the Group Of Death. Both Shakhtar and Monchengladbach have history to be unpredictable. Real Madrid should definitely not take their games lightly. I predict Inter to top the group and Real to come second, with Monchengladbach qualifying for the Europa.

Sid:

Manchester City has once again been handed the easiest draw in all of Champions League. The group is more about a three-way battle between Porto, Olympiacos and Marseille as to who will finish 2nd and who will finish 3rd. City would be easily topping the table like they have in previous seasons but what City have to achieve is overcoming the knockout stage, a place they have struggled in for over a decade since their financial takeover. Out of the whole lot, the biggest competition that they have are Portuguese champions Porto who will finish second whereas French side Marseille will end up third and switch to the Europa League for the knock out stage.  

Videep:

It has become a repetitive thing now that Manchester City will always get an easy group in the Champions League. The real question is who can really become the second-placed team here as Porto, Olympiacos and OM have seemed quite similar squads and playing styles. Watch this group only if you enjoy seeing who finishes second and third. I say OM qualify after City and Porto qualify for the Europa.

Sid:

English champions Liverpool go up against Italian underdogs Atalanta and Dutch league winners Ajax Amsterdam along with the Danish Superliga winners Midtjylland as well. Although Liverpool would be favourites to top the league, there can be no one better than Ajax and Atalanta to give a tough competition to sit on the throne. While Ajax and Atalanta will be busy trying to give Liverpool a run for their money, they will also be going head to head with one another to secure a knock out stage place in the Champions League whereas the other team would have to settle for the Europa League unless Midtjylland can cause an upset which is pretty impossible.

Videep:

A group that is going to be a treat to watch and could even be called the Group of Death, Liverpool, Ajax and Atalanta, all score goals for the fun of it and I wouldn't be surprised if the most goals come from this group. Liverpool would surely be tested by both teams and it would provide Van Dijk with a platform to answer his critics. Liverpool to finish first followed by Atalanta, and Ajax for the Europa League, who would, unfortunately, miss out on Champions League RO16 action for the second season in a row.

Sid:

Chelsea has a great mix of young academy players along with the big signings they have made this year who are also on the younger side of their careers. Chelsea has the best odds to finish at the top but Europa League winners Sevilla have just crowned their homecoming king Ivan Rakitic who has things to prove and would be leading the team to give a tough fight to Chelsea and are almost equally likely to finish at the top. Rennais would be transferred to the Europa league unless Sevilla purposely drops to they third place to go win the Europa trophy yet again whereas Krasnodar would be ending up at the bottom of the pile in an ideal scenario.

Videep:

Another English team with an easy chance to go through, with Sevilla being the only competition in the group. I wouldn't really expect Krasnodar to go anywhere since Stade Rennais easily has a better squad. Sevilla should be able to top the group with Chelsea coming in second and Rennais going for Europa.

Sid:

Dortmund goes up against Lazio in the main matchup of this group along with Club Brugge and Zenit. Dortmund had been knocked out last season by finalists Paris Saint Germain and they are out for blood this season although they have been pretty inconsistent under Lucien Favre, something that cost them last year as well. Lazio would be relying on Immobile massively this season once again and there is no reason why he wouldn't step up. Zenit and Brugge would not be of many issues here for both the teams but they will be trouble for each other although Zenit will be able to see through Brugge to reach the  Europa League.

Videep:

Zenit could be a surprise package here, and with the ever-so inconsistent Borussia Dortmund in their group, they should definitely be hoping to compete for the top two spots. Lazio, too, has not been the best team defensively, but hopefully, their qualification of long will provide the players with an extra boost to perform on the big stage. Lucian Favre has work to do and would really look to work on the team's consistency if they want to make it. Lazio should top the table, with Dortmund and Zenit following them, in that order.

Sid:

The most important group of not only this season but this decade. After a complete decade of fighting, Messi and Ronaldo finally go head to head for the first time ever in the Champions League group stage. Fans have massively missed this ever since Ronaldo parted ways with Madrid and Spain to move to Italy and all the fans who were even slightly hoping for this to happen can see their dreams come true. The other two teams in the group are Kyiv and Ferencvaros where Kyiv will end up in the third-place quite easily whereas, after a huge battle, Juventus would end up first followed by Barcelona.

Videep:
The one group that all football fans all over the world are waiting for. After Cristiano left for Italy, many fans questioned whether we'll ever see the two GOATs on the same pitch again. The time has come as we'll see them play one another not once, but twice as both their respective teams have been drawn in Group G. Juventus to top the group, with Barcelona coming in second and Dynamo Kyiv for the Europa League spot.

Sid:

Manchester United and Paris Saint Germain will meet again after United stunned Paris two years ago. Leipzig will be tagging along the ride to make things more interesting and probably even make it the Group of Death. Although Leipzig managed to get into the semi-finals last season out, they have lost Timo Werner this time but with Julian Nagelsmann in charge, things can take a really interesting turn in this group where Basaksehir would end up finishing at the bottom of the table whereas Paris would finish at the top after all the drama followed by Leipzig as United would turn their focus towards the Europa League unless they get as penalties as they do in the Premier League.

Videep:

Manchester United fans would have hoped for a kinder welcome back to the Champions League with an easier group, but both PSG and Leipzig have had recent success in the competition and compared to the two, United is relatively unsuccessful (in recent years, only). PSG and Manchester United has a history as a game when the two met in the RO16 two seasons back. PSG would look to top the group and I expect RB Leipzig to contest Manchester United for the second spot, with United going through. However good Leipzig was last season, I just don't see them in the knockouts this year.