EUROPEAN PEDIGREE HOW THEY QUALIFIED TACTICAL TALKING POINTSix-times European champions, in
1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005 and,
after the victory over Tottenham
Hotspur in Madrid, 2019. Now
one title away from drawing level
with Milan as the second-most
decorated club in Europe, behind
Real Madrid.
Regular competitors in the
Champions League, Lyon’s best
achievement was reaching the
semi-finals in 2010, where they
lost to Bayern Munich. They were
beaten 5-1 in Barcelona in last
season’s round of 16 following
a goalless draw in the first leg.
In Diego Maradona’s heyday Napoli
won the 1989 UEFA Cup, beating
Stuttgart in the Final. But in the
Champions League era they have
only managed to reach the round
of 16 twice, in 2012 (losing to
Chelsea) and in 2017 (losing to
eventual champions Real Madrid).
Have yet to reach a Champions
League Final – in fact, they have
yet to get past the quarter-finals
and have gone out in the round
of 16 for the past three seasons.
Founded in 1970, their only
European success has been
the Cup-winners Cup in 1996.
Last season, Lokomotiv were
back in the Champions League
group stage for the first time since
2004 but finished bottom of their
group, behind Porto, Schalke and
Galatasaray. They twice reached
the Cup-winners Cup semi-finals,
in 1998 and 1999.
Despite their wealth, City have
yet to reach a Champions League
Final. Their best performance was
in 2016, when they lost to Real
Madrid in the semi-finals. They have
lost in the quarters for the past two
seasons. Their only European trophy
is the 1970 Cup-winners Cup.
Olympiakos have been regulars
in the Champions League group
stage over the past two decades.
Their best performance came
in 199 when they lost to a late
Juventus winner in the quarter-
finals. They also reached the
last 16 in 2008, 2010 and 2014.
Despite being despised by fans
of other Bundesliga clubs, Leipzig
defied the odds to qualify for the
Champions League in their debut
Bundesliga season in 2016-17. The
subsequent European campaign
ended with defeat to Marseille in
the Europa League quarter-finals.
Runners-up to Manchester City
in the Premier League after an
extremely close battle fought
on two fronts which culminated
in another Champions League
success. The strength of their squad
was reflected in their lack of action
in the transfer market this summer.The dashing attacking trident of
Salah, Mane and Firmino was
crucial to Liverpool’s success under
Klopp. But will they suffer any
effects from their summer
exertions? Full-backs Robertson
and Alexander-Arnold are actually
the team’s most creative players.Third in Ligue 1 behind Paris
Saint-Germain and Lille was a
disappointing result which led to
Genesio stepping down. The move
to appoint Sylvinho – along with
fellow Brazilian Juninho, the former
Lyon midfielder, as sporting director- was seen as a bold move.
Lyon spent heavily this summer to
bring in Thiago Mendes (Lille) and
Joachim Andersen (Sampdoria),
using the proceeds from the sales
of Ferland Mendy (Real Madrid),
Tanguy Ndombele (Spurs) and Nabil
Fekir (Betis). Early signs are that
Sylvinho has a more focused team.As runners-up in Serie A,
significantly behind Juventus (11
points) in a disappointing first
campaign for Ancelotti, who failed
to match his predecessor Sarri’s
achievements, with Napoli also
falling short in their Champions and
Europa League campaigns.Napoli’s summer search for
a winger to give the attack
new bite and width ended with
the signing of Mexican winger
Hirving Lozano from PSV for
a club record €40m. Central
defender Kostas Manolas also
arrived, from Roma for €36m.Runaway champions of France, but
they failed to repeat the previous
year’s sweep of domestic trophies,
losing to Guingamp in the League
Cup quarters and to Rennes on
penalties in the French Cup Final.
Brazilian Leonardo returned as
sporting director this summer.Abdou Diallo (Borussia Dortmund),
Pablo Sarabia (Sevilla) and Idrissa
Gueye (Everton) were signed but
the summer was dominated by
Neymar’s desire to leave the club.
PSG insist they wanted the Brazilian
to stay in Paris – but will they be
better off without him?Lokomotiv went into last season
as the defending champions but
ended up second in the Russian
league to Zenit. They finished
level on points with Krasnodar
but took the Champions League
spot through a better head-to-
head record.A solid defensive side was
reinforced this summer with
the signing of Polish midfielder
Grzegorz Krychowiak from Paris
Saint-Germain. They don’t score
many goals – last season’s top
scorer, midfielder Anton Miranchuk,
recorded 11 goals.Champions of England for the
second consecutive season and
with a record points total. Raheem
Sterling, David Silva, Kevin De
Bruyne and top scorer Sergio
Aguero were all outstanding as
they blew many teams away with
their pressing and possession play.City’s recent defeats have been
against sides that have pressed
heavily – Tottenham Hotspur in
the Champions League and Crystal
Palace in the Premier League. City
have lost to English teams in the
Champions League for the past
two seasons.As the 2019 Greek league
runners-up to PAOK, Olympiakos
entered the qualifying round,
where victories over Viktoria
Plzen, Istanbul Basaksehir and
Krasnodar – 4-0, 3-0 and 6-1
on aggregate – took them into
the group stage.The long-term knee injury to key
midfielder and skipper Kostas
Fortounis has left Olympiakos
dependent on veteran French
midfielder Mathieu Valbuena to fill
the creative void in midfield. Striker
Yussef El Arabi scored crucial goals
against Krasnodar in the qualifiers.Third in the Bundesliga, with
sporting director Ralph Rangnick
stepping in as coach for the season.
They continue to hoover up young
talent and this summer they added
Ademola Lookman (Everton), Ethan
Ampadu (Chelsea, loan) and
Christopher Nkunku (PSG).Nagelsmann faces the huge task of
turning Leipzig into a more flexible
and fully rounded outfit, adding
greater care in possession to the
team’s traditional virtues of pressing
and speedy counter-attacks. Can
he do that while also competing
in the Champions League?GROUP STAGE
2019-20Holders...last
season’s winnersLyon...Groupama
StadiumReinforcement
...Grzegorz
KrychowiakWinner...Pep
GuardiolaYoung...Julian
NagelsmannIncoming...
Pablo SarabiaQualifying...beating
Istanbul BasaksehirNew...Kostas
Manolas