This season`s new champions league format is still in its infancy stages with lots of surprises and excitement. who will dethrone the current champions Real Madrid? we have three possibilities, they will repeat their 2017 feat when the Los Blancos retained it and won another, making it three in succession the best of the three possibilities, option two, another heavy weight Club will take the title or a new champion emerges the most unlikely considering the stats, Manchester City are the last debut winners in 2023. from the trends in victory Sportumentary can state that five teams will not win it this season. the stats usually show this reality, from the five on this list, four are former winners, next year will vindicate this research.lets enjoy this article. The list is limited to five and not more for a concise breakdown, from the likeliest of winners from the Big 5 leagues which has constituted the winners since more than twenty years and from 2010, Mourinho the architect of this achievement with Porto six years earlier, took another title with Inter, from that time the Big 5 Leagues have only three winners from the five countries which have rotated the winners, Spain with Real Madrid and Barcelona, Germany with only Bayern Munich and England with Liverpool,Chelsea and Manchester City. all the champions had a momentum and an improvement in previous editions before striking gold. non came out from nowhere like before the 21st century, this will not change. The five big teams that will not win it this season are
5.PSG
The French Super powers have dominated the domestic league, invested on world class players and coaches, at a point the Parisians had Messi,Neymar and Mbappe before then Cavani and Ibrahimovic.they also had Thiago Silva, Verratti and presently Italy’s finest shot stopper Donnarumma. They have wanted to use the winning models established by Real Madrid, Barcelona and recently Chelsea and Manchester City to build a team for domination by getting high profile coaches and players, they have tweaked this system this season having decided to start modestly by utilizing emerging stars and talents within guided by a coach that have reached the highest level before in Luis Enrique, do they have enough time? it is almost obvious that the rebuild will not be ready before the champions league finals at the Alllianz Arena in Germany.
4.BENFICA
The Portuguese, winners in 1961 and 1962, the second team to win and to retain the title, they have failed to do so since then, losing the next final and four others in succession, they have not forgotten how to win but have missed one important trick, retain their star players and allowing them gel into a force, Eusebio was one of the greatest strikers and helped them in the 60s to achieve success, they are currently renowned for selling their best players for huge profit, a sort of conveyor for profit making, this instability prevents them from competing against the best.
3. JUVENTUS
The Old Ladies were able to inflict another defeat on Manchester City but are still far off from their level which enabled them to win two titles first with Platini,Paolo Rossi and Scirea in 1985 and in 1996 with Del Piero,Deschamps, Conte and Vialli like Benfica, they both have two titles and have the record runner up finish with seven. like PSG they have dominated their domestic space but have found it difficult to restore their glory, no longer top dogs in Italy and just above debutante Bologna in 33rd position in this reformatted champions league table that has five Italian clubs.Inter are 6th, Milan 12th and Atalanta are 13th with Juventus in 14th, although still within the knockout spots, with the quality at their disposal a third trophy is just a dream.
2.AC MILAN
The Milan team produced one of the greatest sides to ever play in this competition, they were the first of the early winners not to retain the title but were the last to do so in 1990 until Real Madrid replicated it in 2017,they were the first country to win back to back titles teaming up with neighbors Inter to win three in succession between 1963 to 1965 their history has several defenders regarded as the greatest in history Baresi, Maldini and Nesta they are also not short of great forwards Rivera, Nordahl and Shevchenko with Ballon D`Or winners Rivera,Van Basten, Gullit , Weah, Shevchenko and Kaka, those awards defining a champions league winning era for them, such very high level is absent from this present set of players although they defeated the current holders in their backyard in the fourth group game but an eight title may not be a possibility this season.
1.LIVERPOOL
All the teams listed are a shadow of their glorious self, with the competition as difficult as ever, curiously the Reds are not in bad form but are on top in both the English League and the champions league with a maximum six victories in as many games what then is the problem?
They have won this competition six times,they have a formidable pedigree at this level, joining seven others as the only sides to have defended their title(Real Madrid 1956-57,1958-59,2016-17,2017-18,AC Milan 1989-90,Bayern Munich 1974-751975-76, Ajax 1971-72,1972-73,Inter 1964-65, Benfica 1961-62 and Nottingham Forest1979-80) the only problem is, most probably that they may have peaked too soon, any drop in form may happen at the crucial stages and they may be incapable of recovery, The Bayern Munich side of 2020 is the only side to have won all their matches eleven in total, they went on to win the treble(2013,2020), the second in their history and only the second side to do so(Barcelona 2009,2015) most of the great champions league winning sides did not win all their matches but won the critical games, it will take a miracle more than at Istanbul 2005 for Liverpool to win their seventh title, the domestic title is also important considering that they will equal Manchester United at 20 titles if they win, this may also be a distraction. it is interesting to see how they can manage both.
