Champions League group stage watchability rankings
The group stage of the Champions League kicks off next week. Here’s each group ranked by watchability.
The Champions League returns this week, and it brings with it eight new groups to entertain us for the next three months. However, some of those groups will be more entertaining than others. There are too many games to watch them all, so here are the group stage watchability rankings, in which I tell you which groups should be the most entertaining, and which should be the opposite of that.
8. Group G: Monaco, Besiktas, Porto, RB Leipzig
The only thing running through my mind when I saw this group was this:
Let’s get the worst ones out of the way. Porto: who cares. 2004 was a long time ago, fellas. Besiktas: double who cares. They won the Turkish Super Lig. Moving on.
RB Leipzig are definitely an interesting team. They had probably the most surprising season of any European club last year, shocking the Bundesliga and the world by finishing second in the league table. Naby Keita is a great player, and Liverpool fans will be watching keenly to see what their future new signing has to offer. It’s really cool that Leipzig made it to the Champions League, but are you tuning in to watch them take on Besiktas? Quit lying.
Monaco decimated Ligue 1 last season, winning the trophy with eight points to spare. They scored a 107 goals and had an absurd goal difference of 76. But, unsurprisingly, they lost their best young players. Tiemoue Bakayoko was snatched up by Chelsea to replace Nemanja Matic while wunderkind Kylian Mbappe was lured to PSG by mountains of money. Technically Mbappe is on loan, but the option-to-purchase portion of the deal will definitely be exercised by his new club.
So, when you add up all of that you are left with a group that doesn’t inspire much awe or interest. Monaco should still win the group. Second place is completely up for grabs.