As Europe’s premier club tournament prepares for a significant overhaul, Manchester City will launch their Champions League defense on Tuesday when the group stage of the league begins in its last season as it now exists.
The Champions League will reopen next year, having been unveiled by UEFA in 2021, at the height of the crisis that saw a group of 12 teams launch a breakaway Super League before quickly abandoning the concept.
There will be 36 clubs participating in the tournament proper instead of the current 32, and each team will play eight games instead of six under the so-called “Swiss system” in a single league.
Thus, this is the last season, after twenty years, that the Champions League will start with eight groups of four clubs, with the top two from each group moving on to the round of 16.
In Group G, it is difficult to see Young Boys of Switzerland or Red Star Belgrade of Serbia having a significant influence in addition to Pep Guardiola’s City and RB Leipzig.
City starts as the favorite to retain the championship they won in June by defeating Inter Milan 1-0 in the final in Istanbul. They should easily make it to the round of 16, scoring goals along the way.
When asked whether he thought City will win the championship again, Guardiola said to reporters, “It’ll be easier.” The first one is the hardest to win. For us, it is amazing, but it is just one.
Guardiola insisted that his team shouldn’t relax, saying, “Tomorrow is the first step.” We’ll make an effort to score the first three points. It’s critical that the players remain tense.”
Who, therefore, can stand in the way of a powerful and certain City this time?
It’s unlikely to be the Swiss or Serbian champions, nor Leipzig, who lost their standout defender Josko Gvardiol to City in the offseason.
record-setting 14 victories Real Madrid is always a threat in the Champions League, but Carlo Ancelotti’s club is up against some tough competition in their group, including Union Berlin, Braga, and Napoli.
Harry Kane has helped Bayern Munich bolster their assault, while Kylian Mbappe and the rest of Paris Saint-Germain have been boosted by the loss of Neymar and Lionel Messi.
As usual, how they perform in the Champions League will determine both of their seasons.
While Newcastle United has made a successful comeback to the Champions League after a two-decade absence thanks to Saudi ownership, Arsenal will want to make a mark on their first appearance in the tournament since 2016–17.
They are, nonetheless, placed in a grouping alongside Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan, and PSG.
If teams like that were invited to compete in the Champions League more often, UEFA would not have been so tempted to alter the tournament outline.
Eddie Howe, the manager of Newcastle, said after the draw, “It’s hard and challenging but I think there’s some great European games for us to experience and great places to visit for our supporters.”
On Tuesday, his club plays Milan, the seven-time European winners, away.