UEFA Champions League Preview 9/6/22

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The UEFA Champions League (UCL) starts today! Somehow it sneaks up on me every year, but it's here and it is glorious as always. The best thing about the Champions League is that during the group stage, there is almost always a good game on because there's so many happening and then in the knockout rounds, only the good teams have qualified, so all the games are usually pretty good. Here are the games I'm most excited for today.

3:00pm ET - Juventus @ PSG

Two teams who have recently dominated their domestic league but failed to achieve European success. This should be a really competitive game as both teams have some absolutely world class players. PSG of course has Neymar, Messi, and Mbappe, but they also have serial winner Sergio Ramos and one of the best young prospects at any position in the world in Gianluigi Donnarumma at goalkeeper. 

Juventus has been struggling in the last couple of years but still possess young stars Federico Chiesa, Manuel Locatelli, and Dušan Vlahović. This will be the highest profile game of the afternoon, and it will be a serious test for both teams to see what their realistic ambitions for this year's competition should be. 

3:00pm ET - Real Madrid @ Celtic F.C.

Last year's champions head to Scotland to take on a team with a storied history in Europe but not much recent success. At first glance, this is an unattractive game. Scottish teams haven't been a threat in Europe for a while, so first impressions would imply that Madrid win this game with ease. However, don't underestimate Celtic. They pipped Rangers to the Scottish title last season while Rangers were busy finishing second in the Europa League (second tier European competition).

Scottish fans are also absolutely wild. Playing an away game in Scotland is extremely tricky, and Madrid aren't exactly the most pristine team in the group stage of the UCL. Despite finishing the campaign last year at the top, Madrid did lose to Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol. This could be a closer game than most people are expecting and the crowd should be awesome.

12:45pm ET - Chelsea F.C. @ Dinamo Zagreb

This is an exciting game purely because it's a lunchtime kickoff for us here in the U.S. Apart from that, it's always cool to see some of the not as big markets host big teams in the UCL. Chelsea also has been struggling a bit recently, so they could face a tough match if they haven't figured themselves out yet. 

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