All about defending champions Barcelona and Inter Milan in Group F and no other section has such a lopsided look to it.
When Barcelona lifted the trophy in Rome in May it was the climax of a wonderful season in which they swept all before them both at home and abroad. Pep Guardiola’s side were magnificent virtually throughout and surely possess all the attributes to retain their trophy.
It was a quiet off-season for the Catalan club in the transfer market while their fierce rivals were throwing around the Euros with gay abandon but their pursuit of Zlatan Ibrahimovic eventually saw the beanpole Swede join in a deal worth somewhere in the region of £60m. Samuel Eto’o and Maxwell, the Brazilian defender, swapped the Nou Camp for the San Siro in return and their appearances against their former teammates add extra spice to two already intriguing looking fixtures.
The pair meet on Matchday 1 and with Inter manager Jose Mourinho also facing his former employees there is intrigue everywhere you look. The ‘Special One’ would love to win the Champions League for a second time following the success with FC Porto that propelled him into the limelight but he has seen a number of players depart Northern Italy over the summer and I’m not sure they are much stronger despite the arrival of Eto’o. If at all.
The signing of Brazilian Lucio will be seen by many as a useful addition but he never really impressed me during his time in the Bundesliga and the loss of Ibrahimovic, so effective leading the line, could have been underestimated. Mourinho has seen Hernan Crespo, Julio Cruz and Nicolas Burdisso also leave and it’s hard to forget just how comprehensively outplayed they were by Manchester United during the knockout stages when exiting last season.
I think Juventus could return to winning ways by landing the Scudetto in 2010 and it may just be a trophy-less campaign for president Massimo Moratti. Inter are, of course, not without a chance but Mourinho has an ageing squad on his hands and they are likely to have to settle for second spot en route to the last 16.
Barca, with the prospect of Lionel Messi linking up with the new number nine, are deservedly no bigger than 5.50 once again to go all the way and in a match with Inter for top honours in Group F I think they are worth backing even at 1.53.
I have the La Liga side closer to the 1.40 mark and Guardiola’s men may even be able to land the spoils should they suffer defeat in Italy on opening night. I don’t expect them to drop points in either fixture against Dynamo Kyiv or newcomers Rubin Kazan, who will be fighting it out for third place, and they could have it sewn up sooner rather than later if they get off to a flyer.
2pts Back Barcelona To Win Champions League Group F @ 1.53 (Betfred)