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One of the most beautiful groups, if not the most, will be this in which the Liverpool will have to get rid of two opponents of great style such as Ajax and the Atalanta. Any match between them sounds like heavenly music, especially that duel with the great revelation of European football in recent seasons, the team from Bergamasco that he directs Gasperini. He Ajax, which has dropped the level a lot compared to two years ago, also maintains a very defined and neat idea of the game. More difficult, almost impossible, has it Midtjylland Danish, a real sweet tooth in such an exciting group.
Any match with Liverpool, Atalanta Y Ajax involved sounds like a great appointment, especially because of the direct and offensive way of playing of all of them. The reds begin their journey before Ajax in Amsterdam, a good litmus test for a team that suffers outside much more than it does in Anfield. The really cool of the group will come in the double duel followed between Atalanta Y Liverpool. The set of Gasperini is undoubtedly one of the few that can surprise those of Klopp with his total football. Without a doubt very interesting duels.
Little to discover about a team that has reached four European finals in five years, and the previous season in which it was left out of the Champions felled by the Atlético de Madrid, made one of the best seasons in the history of the Premier League. To the machinery of Klopp You don't have to touch many pieces for him to continue devastating rivals and, above all, maintaining a competitive spirit that makes them insatiable. The competitive rhythm that they print in each and every one of their matches in England makes them arrive very prepared to EuropeEspecially now that the pressure of not having won a league title in 30 years has been lifted. With Anfield As a matchless backdrop, and with one of the best attacking tridents in the world, the Reds will once again be one of the rivals to beat on the continent. In addition, their coach, indisputably one of the three best coaches in the world, has been able to reinforce the plots in which his own faltered without destabilizing a dressing room that seems unbreakable.
The star: Salah
Electric, and with a touch of magic that makes him unique, the Egyptian is one of the stars of the new decade. Differential factor of a team that has won everything. Before being a net, he had already shown football that he was an unbalancing striker, skilled and with a goal, but Liverpool is where he has become one of the best forwards in the world. Together with his dance partners, Mané Y Firmino, forms one of the most dangerous tridents in Europe. It seems that this season he has not forgotten his appointment with the goal and in 5 games he has 6 goals.
The coach: Jürgen Klopp
GermanyThe best coach in the world today, for many. He has changed football with his electricity in pressure and counterattacks. An always loved guy. Mister Red is the leading head of the direct style, of 'rock and roll'. The German coach has built an identity in Liverpool. To his tactical board he has added the psychological impact on his players. He has passed on the winning DNA with his spirit and leadership. Won the Champions. Won the Premier. Now the goal is to stay in the fight every year.
The presence of Thiago gives many different shades to Liverpool, that with him will have the possibility to dominate the game much more in matches in which the rivals get behind him. The rest hardly changed. A tremendously aggressive team in pressure and with a tip of speed on the counterattack that make it unstoppable. Two very deep laterals and a trident in attack with Firmino as an architect and Mané Y Salah hitting space. A great team with a luxury armor behind thanks to Alisson Y Van Dijk, goalkeeper and central.
The Eredivisie decided to respond to the pandemic by ending the league without a champion, but Ajax the position of leader he occupied in March served him to qualify directly to the group stage of this Champions League. Europe is exciting considering the ease with which they have performed in national competitions in the last two years. The club's economy has not been spared from being affected by the coronavirus crisis and this season it will stop earning about fifty million euros by having the stadium closed. Thats why he Ajax It has not been able to make large investments in its workforce and has not earned € 80,000,000 with the sales of Ziyech Y Van de beek. But the two signings he has made have been a success: Antony (€ 15,570,000 that can reach € 21,750,000 in variables and that closed in January, before the pandemic) is called to be the new star and Kudus (€ 9,000,000) has landed on his feet in the double pivot
The star: Quincy Promes
Far from the gang gamer version you left in Seville, where he was unable to adapt to the whole of Seville, Quincy promes has become the offensive reference in the absence of a Tadic decisive. He arrived in Amsterdam with the enthusiasm and motivation to demonstrate the player within him and achieved the goal. With the responsibility of being one of the stars of the team, he has managed to Ajax To his back. Last season he scored 16 goals. After the departure of other referents of the Dutch team, Promes is the star of the team Have hag.
The coach: Erik ten Hag
HollandHe was about to achieve glory with him Ajax which he led to the semifinals of Champions. They took away half the team and there he continues trying to keep it competitive. The Dutch coach is one of the few coaches who continues to bet on the combinative game of tiqui taca in Europe. He was the gifted student of Pep Guardiola and now he is a consolidated coach in European competition. Although he has lost some of his pillars, his philosophy does not change: touch and the total football of the Dutch school.
The 4-2-3-1 of Have hag is now immovable and the main novelties are to play with Labyad, previously playmaker, as forward and Tadic on the left. A team that likes to go out playing with the ball from behind, that always have very neat midfielders and that maintains the old essence of the players very close to the band to open the field. Is he Ajax Always, a very plastic set with a ball but weak without it.
The time when you could consider the Atalanta a surprise. The team of Gasperini He closed the last season with the best forward in Serie A (98 goals!), coming to fight for the scudetto with the Juventus and touching a legendary semifinal against him PSG, in the first participation to the Champions League of its history. The solidity of the Antonio Percassi project was confirmed with the improvements of the Gewiss Stadium (which can already host the European parties: goodbye to San siro) and keeping the best players on the squad. For the lead, in addition, a great talent came as Aleksey miranchuk, waiting for the return of Josip Ilicic after his personal problems. The Slovenian's class makes the difference in an exceptional team: intensity, man-to-man pressure and arrivals from the wings are the weapons that make this Atalanta an almost perfect machine. The feeling is that DeaIn this season, be more aware than ever of your full strength.
The star: Papu Gómez
Forward, midfielder, midfielder … ‘Papu’ becomes everything his team needs. Their quality and leadership are decisive for this Atalanta. Last season he was one of the best players in the Champions and his name entered all the ideal eleven of the competition. In 165 centimeters it fits a quality that is left over. Atalanta Y Papuan They have grown hand in hand and in parallel. Help the team in all facets of the game: distribute, dribble, assist, score …
The coach: Gian Piero Gasperini
A true revolutionary, he has managed to make Atalanta an author team with its offensive vocation and its game on the wings. Excellent technician, without so much poster. He has worked with a team made to measure, has given stability to the project and has made it a “great” in Italy in the last five years. With him as coach, the Bergamo club returned to European competition after a 26-year absence. Last year he reached the quarterfinals in a match that could deserve more.
Very defined drawing with three centrals and two long lanes, one Atalanta Very recognizable always in the field and with numerous players always in the opposite field and close to the area. The figure of the Papu Gomez It is also essential, especially as an intermittent light that appears and disappears in various parts of the field. There are several players of that profile in the squad, although none with such class. Above, the power of Shoe, the mobility of Muriel… A fabulous soccer team, a delight.
It is not common but sometimes miracles happen. And that Midtjylland play the Champions it is. It is true that in recent years he has stomped on his league, in fact he lifted the title last season, and he has been participating regularly in the league for years. Europa League, but that a team from the Danish town of Herling founded just over 20 years ago rubbed shoulders with the greats of Europe without having, as may be the case of Krasnodar, a pretolero empire behind him that supports him financially, has more than praiseworthy merit. Pione Sisto puts the most recognizable face of a team without big names. The ex of Celtic gives a plus of quality to a team whose greatest figures last season were the Brazilian Evander and the Nigerian Onyeka, in charge of directing the engine room of the group directed by Brian priske. Their chances of moving on to the next round, even moving to the Europa League are slim, if not nil.
The star: Pione Sisto
The ex of Celtic It is the most recognizable face of the Danish outfit. If he is in shape, he brings speed, overflow and goal, although he has a complicated character. It was a premature promise, with all the qualities possible to succeed, and in the Midtjylland you will have the opportunity to resurface after passing through Vigo with more shadows than lights. If the head accompanies his game he is a differential player.
The Coach: Brian Priske
DenmarkA technician with little reputation, except in Denmark, but who has managed to work the miracle of classifying the modest Midtjylland for the Champions. We will have to follow him. Last year he raised the domestic competition with a difference of 14 points with the second, the Copenhagen.
As has been the case in Nordic football lately, many African players endow the Midtjylland of a defensive power and of a speed in attack that makes them choose to play well crouched behind and in search of the spaces to the counterattack. The presence of Sisto also empowers that. He knows that in his group he is going to be at the expense of the rivals during all the matches, but he was also previously in previous rounds and other European participations and the result was good. It will go with that premise: surprise.