Be Wary Of Writing Off UEFA Champions League Minnows

This is the third season of the UEFA Champions League group stage being arranged on the current seedings basis, which gives us enough evidence to show that clubs from Pot 4 can be competitive in the early rounds, giving hope to the lowest eight co-efficient holders in this season’s competition: Celtic, CSKA Moskva, Sporting CP, APOEL, Feyenoord, Maribor, Qarabağ and RB Leipzig.

Last season, the majority of Pot 4 clubs played away from home in the opening round but still, defeats only happened in 50% of cases. Creditable draws were earned by Ludogorets Razgrad (1-1 at Basel), Besiktas (1-1 at Benfica courtesy of an injury-time equaliser) and FC Copenhagen (1-1 at FC Porto), whilst Monaco stormed to victory over Tottenham, 2-1 at Wembley Stadium.

The previous season – the first since the transformation of the seedings system to ensure Pot 1 would be the exclusive domain of title holders and national champions from the seven highest-ranked national associations – saw Dinamo Zagreb shock Arsenal with an opening night win, as well as two other draws for the Pot 4 clubs.

So, as we are about to kick-off for a new season of group stage action, who is best placed to turn those statistical crumbs of comfort into early points? We’ve selected three teams from Pot 4 to watch on Matchday 1.

RB Leipzig v Monaco
From hunters to the hunted, AS Monaco’s league title propelled them to Pot 1 for the draw last month. However, the Ligue 1 title that catalysed a football revolution in the summer with the spending of domestic rivals Paris Saint-Germain and the knock-on effects that followed, has transformed the team from the principality to the extent that they are now licking their wounds after a 4-0 pasting down the road in Nice at the weekend. RB Leipzig may be inexperienced at European level but they displayed a real maturity in their Friday night win at Hamburg, when they waited for their more illustrious opponents to run out of puff before picking them off in the second half. Back RB Leipzig not to look like minnows on debut.

Celtic v Paris Saint-Germain
Celtic have shown definite signs of improvement in Europe, which is the only realistic barometer for them now given the extent of their domestic dominance. Last season, some holes were found in the fortifications of Celtic Park in the Champions League, as they were beaten by both Barcelona and Borussia Mönchengladbach at HQ. But a draw in Germany added to a share of the spoils home and away with Manchester City shows that Celtic will be undaunted by facing such a powerful line-up and PSG still need to cope with the mental torment of their incredible collapse against Barcelona in last season’s quarter-finals.

Maribor v Spartak Moscow
Russian football has a score to settle in Maribor but this might not be the night for it. In 2009, the national team missed out on a place at the World Cup by losing at the Ljudski vrt when they seemed intimidated by the favourites tag as much as the fervent local atmosphere. Spartak will doubtless start as favourites here but that doesn’t suit Russian clubs and it is worth noting that Maribor’s regularity on the European stage has them with a co-efficient ranking three points higher than their opponents, who are in Pot 1 as a result of their long-awaited league title. Whilst Maribor remain unbeaten domestically, Spartak are way off the pace with three losses to their names already, leaving them nine points behind leaders Zenit, who have already beaten them 5-0 this term. Maribor will fancy casting aside the minnows tag and matching their opponents in Slovenia.

The remaining Matchday 1 fixtures involving pot 4 teams are as follows:

Benfica vs CSKA Moskva
Olympiakos vs Sporting CP
Real Madrid vs APOEL
Feyenoord vs Manchester City
Chelsea vs Qarabag

Who do you think will spring a surprise in the Champions League? Let us know!