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Champions League Preview- Group A

Paris Saint-Germain- another club fueled by Qatari mega millions- is the class of the group- as long as all the new signings get on the same page quickly.  Having brought in the likes of Javier Pastore, Alex and Jeremy Menez since taking over ownership in 2011, the Qatari investment Authority pulled off an Italian job this summer, luring AC Milan duo Zlatan Ibrahimovic and defender Thiago Silva to Paris. Surprisingly- or maybe not so- PSG had an indifferent start Ligue 1 with three consecutive draws, before finding its stride and winning the last two games.  As for the Champions League, French teams have not left much of an imprint in the tournament for a good number of years now, and PSG has not played a game in this tournament since 2004.  A lot is expected this season, though, and Carlo Ancelotti’s men should buck that history and make it through to the knockout phase. A fortunate bounce here and there, and they could make a deep run.

Porto are really going to feel the expected, yet unexpected loss of Brazilian striker Hulk to Zenit St. Petersburg over the summer.  He absolutely killed it and was a scoring machine even before the loss of teammate Falcao to Atletico Madrid last season.  We’ll see if the feeding ground continues to churn out young stars and can still carry them past this stage, which is surely possible with there not being a clear second-best team in the group.

Dynamo Kyiv has a lot of players that took part in Ukraine’s valiant stint in this summer’s Euro 2012, as well as drawing England in a recent World Cup qualifier at Wembley Stadium.  The addition of Niko Kranjcar form Tottenham could very well swing the pendulum for second place in the group towards Kyiv, and he’s been in fine form domestically.

The last time Dinamo Zagreb played a Champions League game, Lyon defeated them 7-1 at home, which cost the manager his job immediately after the game.  More than likely, the Croatians will follow in that same vain this season in Europe.

 

Prediction:

  1. PSG
  2. Porto
  3. Dynamo Kyiv
  4. Dinamo Zagreb

 

Preview by Arif Ahmed and Adesina Koiki.

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