• Draw.Amable for Madrid and Valencia, hard for Barça and Atlético
  • Awards Van Dijk, best player of the year

The draw began with fascinating clashes, typical of the largest continental competition: PSG-Real Madrid, Bayern-Tottenham, Juve-Atleti, Liverpool-Naples ... And then, as always, very unbalanced groups came out. Of the big favorites, Manchester City looks like the one with the clearest path. And Zenit, Benfica, Lyon, Leipzig formed a group perhaps more typical of the Europa League. Let's review the rivals of the Spanish:

Barça, perhaps the worst unemployed

-The Borussia Dortmund maintains Paco Alcácer, Jadon Sancho, Marco Reus and has been reinforced in attack with Thorgan Hazard and Julian Brandt and in defense with Nico Schulz and especially the veteran Mats Hummels to end the hegemony of Bayern in Germany. His start could not be better: he won the German Super Cup, qualified in the German Cup and won his first two games in the Bundesliga. Alcácer has scored in those first four official matches.

-Inter Milan has completely refurbished the team, with interesting signings in all the lines: Godín back, Barella and Sensi in midfield and Lukaku and Alexis Sánchez above. But what really changes the face of the team is the landing on the bench of Antonio Conte, a very demanding coach with whom Inter will undoubtedly gain competitiveness. His 4-0 at Lecce in the debut has excited the fans.

-The Slavia Prague is several steps below its three rivals, much as last season eliminated Sevilla from the Europa League. With the entry of Chinese capital, he achieved the national double last season, leads the current championship and has managed to return twelve years later to the Champions League beating the Romanian Cluj in the playoff.

Real Madrid and PSG, far superior

-The PSG has fled this summer from millionaire hires to sign what I really needed: midfielders. The Spaniards Ander Herrera and Pablo Sarabia should make a competitive quality leap to the Tuchel team, which has also incorporated the Diallo power station and the defensive midfielder Gueye. The season has started revolt in Paris. Apart from the 'Neymar soap opera', they have already lost a match in the championship (the first defeat of last season did not come until February) and they have been injured for 3-4 weeks Mbappé and Cavani.

-The Bruges repeats in the group stage after depriving Atlético de Madrid last season of being first in the group with a zero draw on the last day a year ago. He was second in his league last season and is again in the current season. He has overtaken Dinamo Kiev and the Austrian LASK in the previous rounds. The goalkeeper Mignolet has joined Liverpool and Vanaken is still his most prominent player in attack.

-The Galatasaray , champion of the last two Turkish leagues, has started the season very badly, with a draw and a defeat in the first two days. And that, by the hand of the incombustible Fatih Terim on the bench, has carried out an interesting transfer market: Steven Nzonzi (former Sevilla), Ryan Babel (former Depor), Emre Mor (former Celtic) or the Ivorian Jean- Michäel Seri, who two years ago sounded for Barça.

Atleti, the rematch in Turin

- Juventus appears again in the rojiblanco road after the painful elimination in the round of last season. Despite winning his eighth consecutive Scudetto, the fall against Ajax in Europe caused the replacement of Massimiliano Allegri with Maurizio Sarri, a technician of a more offensive style to aspire to the coveted Champions. De Ligt, Rabiot, Ramsey, Danilo, Demiral and Buffon's unexpected return complete an already very competitive team with, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo as the flagship.

-The Bayer Leverkusen is the third in discord and who could complicate the classification of Atlético de Madrid with its ultraoffensive style. With Peter Bosz since December on the bench, he made a great final leg of last season and slipped into the Champions League. A good form that they have maintained at this start with 10 goals in the first three official matches. They lost Brandt but have signed two very good midfielders like Amiri and Demirbay. And they keep the crown jewel of German football: Kai Havertz.

-Lokomotiv Moscow was second in the last Russian league and co-leads the current one after seven days. It is a veteran team both on the bench, with Yuri Semin, and on the grass: Höwedes, Corluka, Farán, Smolov or the Portuguese Eder, author of the goal of the final of the Euro Cup 2016. The promising Miranchuk brothers follow and the former sevillista Krychowiak and Joao Mario, of Inter.

Valencia, before teams come to less

- Chelsea , winner of the Europa League, lost Hazard and his coach Maurizio Sarri. UEFA's penalty only allowed him to register Pulisic, already signed. Faced with difficulties, the new coach Frank Lampard - club emblem - is pulling quarry. And two players have pleasantly surprised in the first few days: Mason Mount, which he led in Derby County last season, and Tammy Abraham, 25 goals in the Aston Villa also in Championship. There are still Kanté, Willian or the Spaniards Kepa, Azpilicueta, Marcos Alonso or Pedro but it doesn't seem like a team as powerful as it used to be.

-Ajax is in a similar situation. After his impressive last season, he lost De Ligt, De Jong and Schöne in the summer. Ziyech, Tadic, Neres and, for now, Van de Beek remain, but it seems impossible to maintain the level. In fact, they have suffered in the previous two rounds that they have had to overcome. The main signings are the Mexican Edson Álvarez and the former Sevillist Quincy Promes.

-Lille, finally, has also suffered the casualties of some of his best players: Nicolas Pépé al Arsenal, Rafael Leao al Milan or Thiago Mendes al Lyon. To try to maintain the attractive style that attracted attention last year in France with Galtier on the bench, Ikoné (summoned by France) and Bamba follow and have incorporated Osimhen, André and at the last minute the Portuguese Renato Sanches.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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