5 Dark horses in the UEFA Champions League this season
The UEFA Champions League is easily the most prestigious club competition in the world and therefore it comes as no surprise that clubs try their best to qualify for the tournament at least, even if they don’t win it.The monetary reward for participating in the tournament is very high and of course, there is the matter of winning it. In recent years, the competition has been dominated by clubs such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea as these four clubs are regulars in the semi-final stages on many occasions.For example Barcelona have won four titles in the last 10 years, Bayern Munich have made the final thrice in the space of four years while winning the title once, Real Madrid have made the semi-final stages at least in the last five years and were victors in 2014 and Chelsea have won the title in 2012.Teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and maybe even last year’s finalists Juventus are all expected to do well in the tournament considering their track record. However, the Champions League always surprises us with incredible performances from teams who are not favourites.For example, Borussia Dortmund made their way into the final in 2013 before losing out to Bayern Munich. So here are five teams who could win the Champions League against the odds.
#5 Sevilla
Seeing Sevilla in the list might be odd, but the Spanish club are an incredible side and could upset big teams. Sevilla have been given a tough group, but they have the ability to frustrate teams like Manchester City and Juventus.
Football fans worldwide were given a chance to see what Sevilla are capable of doing when they staged an incredible comeback against Barcelona in the UEFA Super Cup.
Unai Emery is a young manager who has already won two Europa League titles with his squad despite losing many key players like Alvaro Negredo, Jesus Navas, Ivan Rakitic, Alberto Moreno, Federico Fazio, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Gary Medel. The fact that Sevilla are still performing admirably after losing so many star players is a testament of their ability.
During their last two Europa League campaigns, Sevilla have beaten teams like Fiorentina, Zenit, Borussia Monchengladbach, Porto, Valencia and Benfica. In addition to this, they are used to playing teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona and therefore, the intensity of the competition won’t come as a surprise to them either.
The odds of Sevilla winning the Champions League might be low, but you can’t rule them out completely.