Soccerpeddia

Too many of Europe's elite clubs crumbled in the 2018/19  Champions League, in which Liverpool ended as champions.  But the new season is here and the big names are ready to  bounce back and fight for the trophy. With the draw coming this  Thursday, MARCA have looked at the ten favourites to be  crowned champions in Istanbul. Real Madrid They fell to Ajax last time but they had won four of the  previous five on offer. Now they've reinforced by bringing in  Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy and Eder Militao,  with Paul Pogba still being pursued. Madrid will be desperate  to assert their dominance over European football again. Barcelona Last season it was their main objective and they looked good  to go all the way until a semi-final second leg collapse at  Anfield. Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong have already  come in, not to mention that Neymar could yet return. Atletico Madrid They missed the chance to win the Champions Lea

The star of the show at the Camp Nou on Sunday evening was  Antoine Griezmann, who enjoyed a fine home debut for  Barcelona. The Frenchman scored twice, the second being particularly  memorable with a cut inside and curling finish, almost  reminiscent of Lionel Messi. "Yes, I saw Leo do it in training and I copied him," Griezmann  said, laughing, to Movistar after the game. "The celebration? I liked what LeBron [James] did and tried to  copy him." It was essential for the 28-year-old - and Barcelona - to  respond after the defeat to Athletic Club last weekend. "After the defeat there were a lot of comments; we had to  work this week," Griezmann admitted. "We woke up after their goal and in the end we played well,  with a lot of chances. We enjoyed ourselves and we hope it's  always like that. "We really wanted to play again after Bilbao; we improved but  there are still details to work on."

Philippe Coutinho has been exiled, Ousmane Dembele is  injured  again while Antoine Griezmann has made an  inauspicious start to his Camp Nou career Barcelona fans last week were given another reminder of  what life will be like once the unthinkable happens and Lionel  Messi moves on. They had made no breakthrough against Athletic Club in the  first game of the Liga season by the time 38-year-old forward  Aritz Aduriz netted a spectacular scissors-kick in injury time. Despite all that money spent on Ousmane Dembele, on  Philippe Coutinho and on Antoine Griezmann in the past two  years – their three most expensive signings ever – Messi  remains irreplaceable. Griezmann is already on the back foot in the eyes of the  Spanish press following an inept debut that will have done  nothing to quell talk of a comeback for Neymar, while the  other two can be classified along the scale of outright to  qualified failures. Coutinho has joined Bayern Mu

Barcelona's European achievements: 5 UEFA Champions League 5 UEFA Super Cup 4 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

The biggest problem Barcelona are facing now is Valverde, not  signing Neymar or not, according to former player Jorge  D'Alessandro. D'Alessandro claims Barcelona do not need Neymar, but a  coach who knows how to manage the team, especially in the  midfield. He called it 'crazy' of Valverde to put Roberto in the starting  midfield but leave Rakitic and Busquets on the bench. He also thinks De Jong isn't supported enough under  Valverde.

The draw for the group stage of the 2019/20 Champions  League will be made on August 29 in Monaco. A total of 32 teams will be put into four pots before the draw  takes place, with 26 clubs already qualified and eight still to  be decided by the playoffs. Pot one is made up of the Champions League holders  Liverpool, Europa League winners Chelsea and the winners of  the top six leagues in Europe. Pot two consists of the eight teams with the highest UFEA  coefficient such as Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. With seven spaces already decided, Ajax will take the eighth  spot if they make it through their playoff against APOEL. If the Dutch giants are knocked out, Lyon will take their place in pot  two. Pots three and four are also decided by UEFA coefficient, with  clubs with lower coefficients taking up the slots. Valencia will  be in pot three, while Lokomotiv Moscow and Genk are still to  find out which of the two lower pots they will be