The UEFA Champions League will see some incredible spectacles with the best European sides clashing heads on Wednesday night, and now we can take a look at the first round of fixtures which will hopefully live up to the hype surrounding the competition.
For now, we take a look at Group H, where Tottenham and Dortmund will battle it out, with both sides hoping to show Europe that they mean business this season. In our other game powerhouses, Real Madrid will play Champions League minnows APOEL.
Tottenham (Eng) vs. Dortmund (Ger)
Three-Way: 1: Tottenham +146; X: +270 Draw; Dortmund +215
Spread 0: Tottenham -135; Dortmund +131
Total +2.5: Over -132; Under +127
Tottenham
Tottenham Hotspur has had a mixed start to their season, registering impressive wins against Newcastle and Everton, but disappointing against Burnley and Chelsea. It was only in the last few years that Spurs have become a real force in English football, although in the last two seasons they have amounted more Premier League points than any other side, despite not winning the league.
Tottenham have only qualified for the Champions League twice before, this time round being their third, all achieved this decade. Unfortunately for Spurs, they had a terrible campaign last year, failing to beat rivals in the group Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen. Furthermore, they lost twice at home in Wembley, playing a trial for this season where all their home games will be played at Wembley until their new stadium is ready. Since playing at Wembley, Spurs have won just once, encouraging cries of a jinxed stadium for the English side.
With a squad of a mix of English youth and European talent, Tottenham seems to have struck a balance with an exciting attacking team. Dele Alli and Harry Kane are their two English darlings up front, scoring 47 goals in the league last season, with supporting roles from other top-class players like Cristian Eriksen from midfield and Toby Alderweireld in defense. With some luck and good form, Tottenham Hotspur could go far.
During the offseason, Tottenham made four additions to their side, including centre-back Davinson Sanchez from Ajax for 36 million pounds and forward Fernando Llorente from Swansea for 14 million pounds. Eight players went the other way, most notably right-back Kyle Walker to Manchester City for 46 million pounds.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino will be without winger Erik Lamela (hip), left-back Danny Rose (intraarticular ligament crack knee), defensive-midfielder Victor Wanyama (knee) and winger Georges Kevin N’Koudou (foot) through injury. Dele Alli will also be unavailable due to suspension.
Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund has a good start to their league, winning two and drawing one placing themselves at the top of the Bundesliga. After finishing in second place for three of the four previous seasons, Dortmund will be unhappy to have given up their position to RB Leipzig, representing a shift of power in German’s top flight.
Dortmund is a well-known side in European football, regularly qualifying for the Champions League and winning once in the 1996-97 season. Furthermore, in the German sides last four Champions League campaigns they have progressed through the group stage, including a heartbreaking run all the way to the final in 2012-13, but were beaten by domestic rivals Bayern Munich. Dortmund will hope they can repeat previous successes with striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameying leading the light for his side, but other runners-up finish is unlikely.
Dortmund’s biggest transfer story was the sale of winger Ousmane Dembélé to Barcelona for over 100 million euros and rising. They’ve gone some way to spending the cash they obtained from Dembélé with the signings of forwards Andrey Yarmolenko from Dynamo Kyiv and Maximilian Philipp from Freiburg.
Manager Peter Bosz will be missing Marco Reus (ruptured cruciate ligament), Raphael Guerreiro (ankle), Andre Schurrle (muscle fibre), Erik Durm (hip), Sebastian Rode (bone stress), Marcel Schmelzer (ankle) and Marc Bartra (groin).
Tottenham (Eng) vs. Dortmund (Ger) – Match Prediction:
This will be an interesting matchup against two sides who are more or less equals. I don’t think Dortmund is as strong as they have been in previous seasons, but will still have enough power to pose problems. Tottenham, on the other hand, is possibly the slightly stronger team but has rarely performed well in the Champions League and have a jinxed home stadium to contend with.
Overall it will be a close game, and I could see a draw being the end result for this game.
MY PICK: DRAW (+270)
Real Madrid (Spa) vs. APOEL (Cyp)
Three-Way: 1: Real Madrid -667; X: +2200 Draw; 2: APOEL +7030
Spread -3.5: Real Madrid +125; APOEL -125
Total +4: Over -123; Under +120
Real Madrid
Despite being unbeaten Real Madrid will be disheartened by their start, drawing two home games to Valencia and Levante in a league where the top teams are not allowed much room for error if they wish to fulfill their title ambitions. Gaining 93 points was enough for Real Madrid to win the league last season, and will be expected to achieve a similar feat over Barcelona who is a side in transition.
Real Madrid is arguably the biggest club in European and World football. They have won the Champions League a record 12 times, winning the Champions League as double defending champions after their 2015-16 and 2016-17 wins, and they also won in 2013-14 meaning three wins in four. A third in a row would be unprecedented but a side that contains the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, and Gareth Bale, to name but a few, will always have a chance of winning the Champions League. It should be noted that the side has looked particularly impressive under boss Zinedine Zidane with a sharp arrow formation.
Real Madrid has been very modest in the transfer window by their standards, signing just two players, left-back Theo Hernandez and central-midfielder Dani Ceballos. There has been a total of nine departures, most notably striker Alvaro Morata to Chelsea for 55 million pounds and attacking midfielder James Rodriguez to Bayern Munich on loan with an option to buy.
Manager Zinedine Zidane will be without centre-back Raphael Varane with muscular problems but will otherwise have fully fit and available squad.
APOEL
The 26-times Cypriot Champions are only one game into their league campaign, which they won, and will be expected to win their domestic league again after winning the last five times. APOEL did have to play the play-off round to reach the group stage of the Champions League, beating Sparta Praha with relative ease 2:0 on aggregate.
APOEL last qualified for the Champions League in the 2014-15 season, where they finished bottom of the group with one point. The Cypriot side has only progressed through the Champions League group once in the 2011-12 season, where the incredibly topped their group, beat Lyon in the round of 16 but were knocked out by none other than Real Madrid.
APOEL have seen a number of incomings, with a total of fifteen new players, including attacking midfielder Roland Sallai from Puskas AFC for 2 million euros. A total of sixteen left for pastures new.
Manager Georgios Donis will have a fully fit squad other that keeper Loic Badiashile who is out with a shoulder injury.
Real Madrid (Spa) vs. APOEL (Cyp) – Match Prediction:
APOEL will do well to get any points in this Champions League group, a group that contains three powerhouses. A loss for an excellent Real Madrid side is nearly impossible, if not extremely improbable, and I would fully expect the Spanish side to dispatch their opponents with ease.
MY PICK: Real Madrid – 3.5 AH (+125)
