The group stages of the 2023-2024 Champions League are over and it is time to look at the teams that made it through to the round of 16. In the group stages, most teams that were expected to qualify did, but there were a few exceptions. The biggest surprise of the group stages was Manchester United. They finished last in their group even though they were expected to qualify comfortably, instead of them qualifying, Copenhagen did, which was far from expectations at the beginning of the season. Besides Copenhagen qualifying, the rest were fairly predictable as the major teams all qualified.
Many teams that have qualified as usual, are expected to drop out in the first round, which will narrow down the teams into the true contenders for the league. After the second round, the competition will be narrowed down to the final four teams that will competing to win. This stage is where the pressure of the tournament starts to kick in as all the teams remaining are only three wins away from winning the tournament. Here are my predictions for the final four.
Manchester City
Manchester City have proven to be one of the most dominant teams in Europe and won the competition last year. They have already played the first game of the round of 16 and they cruised to victory against Copenhagen 3-1. Their team is not as strong as it was last year, but they are still winning games with ease. If they continue to perform at a high standard there is a very good chance that they could win the competition, but as we reach the end of the season fatigue and injuries will start to influence the performance of teams, which could hinder the chances of Manchester City. Once again this year, Manchester City are one of the favorites to win.
Real Madrid
Like Manchester City, Real Madrid already played their first game of the round of 16 and won 1-0, the game was tight but the quality of the Real Madrid players eventually came through against a strong RB Leipzig team. I believe that if they make it out of the round of 16 they have a strong chance of making it to the final as they always seem to play better later into the tournament. Real Madrid is one of the teams this year that is packed with young talent, but a lack of experience could prevent them from advancing, as not many players in the squad have made it to a game as important as this one. This is most likely the only reason that this Real Madrid team could be stopped, as in the La Liga this year they have been playing at a very impressive level.
Paris Saint German (PSG)
PSG is always one of the favorites to win this tournament, even though they are yet to win it. This year, they lost a few crucial players to big money trades, but the team in general is still looking very strong and is easily good enough to win against the slightly less talented teams that have progressed into the round of 16. In the round of 16 they face Real Sociedad, which out of all the teams is probably one of the most favorable to be drawn against. Even though Real Sociedad is a good team, I do not think they will be able to handle the talent of PSG and will crumble under pressure. One of the factors that could stop PSG from winning the tournament is their reliance on their star striker Kylian Mbappe, if he were to get injured there is a lack of goalscoring talent and they could be knocked out of the tournament. If he does stay healthy, though, many teams may find it difficult to defend him and PSG will have a good chance of winning their games.
Bayern Munich
Bayern are the team that everyone must look out for. At the beginning of each season they do not change their roster that much and fundamentally stay the same team, due to this most teams underestimate them, and get surprised by the talent and quality of the team. There are not that many flaws in the team overall except for the age of some players. Some players who have been performing at the top level for a long time are now likely to sustain injuries and the experienced players make up the backbone of this squad. If all of the experienced players do stay healthy, they have a very good chance of leading their team to a win in the tournament. Bayern is always a contender even tough at the beginning of seasons they are not thought to be but the way they play makes it hard for other teams to deal with the physicality of their team and get bullied of the ball during games. If their game plan succeeds, there is very little that can stop them.
Those are my top four contenders to win this year. There is a good chance that some of the teams above will play each other before the final four but it all comes down to luck and who they are drawn to play against. if all teams stay healthy I believe that one of them will win the tournament, and together the four teams will dominate all other competition.
-Colin Kirk
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