The Champions League draw went well.

Sarcasm of the draw – couples PSG and Liverpool

Although the sheikhs of Qatar are friends of Ceferin, friendship is one thing and business another. In PSG year after year, the opponents in the first round of the playoffs are very tough. Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, ​​Real Madrid and Bayern. In these five they have all won the Champions, only the “bumblebees” of the last century.

The Parisians are unlucky, they have taken Bayern. The two main bookmakers preferred by the top three (Manchester City’s chances are also highly regarded) will play immediately. You can trust the fairness of the procedure. PSG they are simply unlucky with their first opponents, they enter clubs only with talent and skill.

RB Leipzig (Germany) – Manchester City (England);

Brugge (Belgium) – Benfica (Portugal);

Liverpool (England) – Real Madrid (Spain);

Milan (Italy) – Tottenham (England);

Eintracht (Germany) – Naples (Italy);

Borussia Dortmund (Germany) – Chelsea (England);

Inter (Italy) – Porto (Portugal);

PSG (France) – Bayern (Germany);

But the sarcasm of a particular lot is that after the distribution of the teams into groups, everyone rightly considered the club with Mbappe, Messi and Neymar the clear favorite of the quartet with Benfica and Juventus. Allegri was assumed not to repeat Barcelona’s mistake, which allowed the Eagles to enter the playoffs a year ago.

But the Portuguese went further, they struck again. Not only did he beat Juventus, but he failed twice PSG. And then they defeated Maccabi and, according to further indicators, they overtook the Parisians, they won the group. Benfica instead of Bayern had as rival Brugge, a sensational participant in the playoffs.

Napoli followed the same path. It was assumed that Liverpool could lose to Naples, it happened to them. But they initially put Klopp first in the group. In this case, instead of Real Madrid and the repetition of the Champions League final, the Reds would have taken Eintracht. The club that knows Jürgen.

The price of second place for the favorites: They found themselves in trouble right away, unlike many group winners. Perhaps only Porto can still complain, because they have taken Inter. And Conte is unhappy, instead of Milan it would be better to play against Eintracht or Brugge, the Spurs weren’t very lucky.

Mbappe vs Mane, Salah vs Benzema

Let’s take a look at the situation from a different angle. What difference does it make when “early finals” occur? Last year, Real Madrid fought PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City. These are the three recent finalists of the draw, Tuchel is the cup winner. Ancelotti lost to the sheriff in the group stage, then, thanks to the saves of Courtois, the passes of Modric and the shots of Benzema, he went to the final, where not everyone considered him a favorite. And in parallel, Bayern flew to Villarreal.

Two teams advance to the final. The thirty participants in the group stage will inevitably lose, which is known before the start of any season. So the order of the meetings doesn’t matter? It is clear that psychologically it seems easier to swing with Eintracht and Brugge, if undervaluation is not allowed into the house. But for PSG and Liverpool, any opponent is expected, because Mbappé and Salah have a task. They dream of reaching the final and winning the Champions League. Another thing is that in February you cannot be at the peak of your form.

There will be a grueling world championship. The national championships will return, we will have to recover the usual club calendar. The players will get tired, for their psyche the risk of being eliminated in the first round is a test. But the public only benefited. Klopp vs Ancelotti is a winning classic Champions League. Galtier versus Nagelsmann is a battle of daring contenders, because these coaches have never won the big-eared cup. They weren’t even in the final, unlike Tuchel himself, who, after losing PSG won with Chelsea.

In the playoffs Champions League there are no passing opponents left

Lovers of statistics will object that they have seen the loss of Salzburg by a team from Munich. And Sporting flew to Manchester City. But this happened because the Austrians and the Portuguese played below their abilities in specific matches. In the first match, Salzburg played a draw with Bayern. In the second game, “Sporting” was not missed by the “citizens”. In parallel, Villarreal left Juventus, and the same PSG could deprive Real Madrid of the chances of a comeback in the first game.

Now for Benfica the Belgians of Brugge are a dangerous opponent. They may think that they will surpass them for sure, they will come across an interesting game and the competent tactics of Karl Hoefkens. It is clear that Manchester City are most likely lucky: Leipzig are decent but are not up to par in defense and cannot count on stable people in attack. It is also a shame to complain to the heroes of Napoli: Eintracht must pass. But in most pairs, you can’t guarantee one side will have an easy win.

Who knows in what condition Tottenham will be against Milan? It is not clear whether Potter’s Chelsea will be able to face the games against Borussia Dortmund in optimal form. They recently lost to a Europa League club in the North London derby. Inter should not consider Porto a weak opponent. Also, Inzaghi’s team has enough problems already. Liverpool and Real Madrid are not on par this season, the Madrid club is more prosperous, but Klopp cannot always lose to Ancelotti.

One day there will be a new holiday on Jürgen Street. How will the holidays in Paris be, if the first thing that Messi, Neymar and Mbappé, the favorites of the World Cup in the compositions of Argentina, Brazil and France, will show their class to the defense of Neuer, who has not been upset this season by none, even Schwartz’s Hertha. The probability of moving further in each pair is different, this is understandable. There are favorites in five of the eight quartets, but they are strictly subjective, because Eintracht also respects, but does not fear, Napoli.

Everything changes in football. Who would have thought early in the season that Liverpool, who beat Manchester City 3-1 in the Super Cup with Haaland, would be in eighth place in November in Premier League? Yesterday we won our first away match in the league on the sixth attempt. And then with the help of the unfortunate classic Tottenham and Salah’s feat. At the same time, less time has elapsed between the FA Super Cup final and today than before the first leg of the Champions League play-offs.

The draw and the fights in February are always months apart, but now the World Cup has intervened, the pause is even longer. We have no idea what condition they will be in. PSG, Real Madrid, Bayern, Manchester City and other favorites in the second half of February. This is the beauty of a twisted but exciting club season. It is possible that the departures of Juventus, Atlético and Barcelona (Xavi was “lucky” with the draw in THE) this is only the first and not the last portion of surprises in the Champions League.