Champions League Preview

It is this time of the year when the nerves start twitching and excitement begins to build for the 2009-2010 edition of the Champions League. Like the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A, we are faced with the usual suspects in analysing the likely winners of the prestigious competition.

Last season we highlighted the English Big 4 of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United, the Spanish El Classico participants in Barcelona and Real Madrid and the Serie A giants of Inter Milan and Juventus as the only sides worthy of serious considerations for the Champions League. Not much has changed since then. It is almost certainly safe to write off the threat of Lyon, Porto and Bayern Munich who were exposed as a class below the sides mentioned. Lyon has seen talisman Benzema depart for the riches of Madrid, Porto does not quite possess the players to consistently compete with the bigger sides and Bayern Munich, despite holding on to Ribery still has the look of a poor man’s Chelsea: big, physical, functional but ultimately lacking the world class stars Chelsea possesses bar Ribery and Robben.

In the “off-season” we haven’t seen much changes that could ultimately change perceptions that the likely winners of the Champions League are still likely to come from the Premier League, Serie A or La Liga. Real Madrid and Barcelona were the biggest spenders in the transfer market strengthening their respective squads in eye-catching fashion, the big four from England looks as strong as they ever did despite the departure of Ronaldo, Tevez, Alonso, Toure and Adebayor whilst the Serie A contenders of Inter Milan and Juventus have much to prove despite Inter pulling off a transfer coup in exchanging the over-rated (in my opinion) Ibrahimovic for Eto’o and in the process managing to pry a reported £40m from the Barcelona coffers. That’s an excellent piece of business and one that Wenger would’ve been proud of.

So which of the European sides will win the competition? We rank the prospective top eight contenders in our mini power rankings.

1.Real Madrid

This summer has seen an amazing transfer spending spree unprecedented in recent times with perhaps only Chelsea and Manchester City able to match the spending power of Real Madrid. They signed Kaka for a world transfer record of £56m and proceeded to top that by £24m with an amazing £80m bid for Ronaldo! To complement those star signings they signed Raul Albiol, Alvaro Arbeloa, Karim Benzema and Xabi Alonso. Are they now the new invincibles? No. Their defence has more questions then answers. If they had added a world class no nonsense centre half like Carvalho, Carragher, Terry or Ferdinand they could be regarded as hot favourites for the Champions League but instead their Achilles heel in the central defensive areas prevents them from favouritism in my view.

For all their attacking talent, it would be wise to take the pragmatic view that defending is essentially much more “easier” then attacking. Of course they will most likely outscore most teams and their attacking abilities are not in question bar the usual “can the new signings gel” question but in the context of prospective oppositions like Chelsea and Barcelona how their defence holds up under the severest of examination is the big question.

New signings Arbeloa and Albiol provide an upgrade injecting youth over the aging duo of Salgado and Cannavaro, solid Champions League experience as well as versatility with last season’s holdovers in Pepe, Ramos and Marcelo all more then useful and approaching their prime years. The lack of a “name” defender is not a big drawback as Cannavaro proves that reputation is nothing without substance and the new signings are both vastly experienced Champions League defenders. With time they should be a solid unit. Alonso and Diarra will provide the defensive support from midfield and time will tell if the likes of Ronaldo and Kaka demonstrate their willingness to track back in support.

It was a tough decision to rank Real Madrid above Barcelona and Chelsea as it’s hard to forget last season’s humiliation at Anfield and Barcelona’s wonderful football. I initially had Real Madrid as low as fourth but the firepower Real Madrid has built up is simply too tough to ignore and the only question is how their defence fares against Chelsea and Barcelona but they can always win 5-4!