Can Arne’s Slot machine win the Champions League this season?
Liverpool is marching and crushing everyone on their way. They are undoubtedly the best team both in England and Europe. It is still hard to believe that Arne Slot was managing a Conference League runner-up, but it wasn’t him who won three Champions League titles in a row (however, the guy that did it and Arne are both bald) or broke the 30-year Liverpool curse. This is precisely what we call ‘Choose the right bald Dutchman. Isn’t that right, Manchester United?
Mo Salah is not just one of the best, he's rolling the party: not only the best Premier League goalscorer with 13 goals but also the leading Champions League assistant with four assists. With the upcoming matches against Lille and PSV, which are relatively easy for Liverpool, Mo has a golden opportunity to increase his number of assists further.
After six rounds, Liverpool remains the only team without point losses in the Champions League.
Considering the next Liverpool’s opponents at the League Stage, 1.25 odds on their victory in the league may seem relevant.
Nothing seems to stop Arne’s Slot machine except Nottingham Forest (0:1). But Santo’s team is not in the Champions League. The teams that are there have many problems: injuries, dependence on one or two key players, struggle with the new coach, or lack of resources. Let us look closer at those who could potentially stop Liverpool on their way to the Champions League trophy but are not good enough to be an undisputed contender at whom everyone can point a finger.
Spaniards: the most significant threat
Barcelona: great start, but refreshments and new ideas are required
When the 24/25 season started, Flick’s Barca suddenly presented itself as a pressing machine with a back to his prime, Robert Lewandowski. The seven-game win streak in August-September looked impressive, but the closer the world was getting to the winter, the more obvious it became that Barca looked tired, and their methods became well-known to the opponents. To start with, Gavi’s and Frenkie De Jong’s comebacks didn’t help almost at all: both look too far from their best conditions and are 15th and 16th among Barca players by SofaScore rank with an average rating of 6,79 for Gavi and 6,78 for De Jong. While the Dutchman has only 1+1 in eight games, the Spaniard goes with zero in both components after a similar number of matches.
Furthermore, Barca looks tired, and there’s no surprise: Pedri had no break for three months and played every game till the 70-75th minute. The same goes for Raphinha: he was substituted already after an hour from the starting whistle against Betis (2:2). Such an early substitution happened with Barca’s leader for the first time since the start of the season.
Lamine Yamal’s absence is sensitive for this Barca: he is the key player who moves the ball into the final third. He makes an average of 3,1 successful dribbles per game, almost double and half more than second Barca dribbler Dani Olmo (1,4). Such a considerable gap means that Barcelona struggles to move the ball closer to the opponent’s penalty area without risks of losing it. Without Yamal, the only player whose individual skills can bring the result is Raphinha. The thing is, we are talking about a great player, but not Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, who, in their prime, could lead the whole team. Home defeat against Las Palmas (1:2) and a draw with Celta (2:2) proved it.
Could Barca beat Liverpool? If they were in their starting conditions, yes. But things have changed, and now Barcelona looks still decent, but not nearly as perfect as Arne’s Slot team.
Real Madrid: Mbappe factor, injuries, or is Ancelotti just tired?
Madridistas have a lot of problems nowadays. The signing that was supposed to strengthen the club only made it weaker. Of course, we are talking about Kylian Mbappe. Somebody will probably point out that the Frenchman is the best team’s goalscorer in La Liga (9 goals after 15 games), but those watching Real Madrid’s matches easily notice struggles with tactics. First of all, Mbappe is not capable of sacrificing his gaming preferences to make the entire team stronger, like Rodrygo did. The Brazilian was nominally a center forward (like again, 3:2 against Barca in the 23/24 season), but in reality, he was a distracting maneuver. Obviously, Vini Jr. would have never become the Ballon d’Or nominee without his help. Now, the problem is that Vini has right beside him, not an altruist but a guy who wants to be even more remarkable than him and dreams of becoming the best player in the world, not lesser than him. Bellingham doesn’t want to stay in the background, either.
Second, Real Madrid faces the most typical problem of a football club nowadays: many injured players. While Vini was out temporarily, and it didn’t affect the situation much (maybe it even was beneficial considering that Bellingham scored in three games in a row at the beginning of December), the loss of Eder Militao, Eduardo Camavinga, Ferland Mendy, and Dani Carvajal hits hard. These guys are essential to Ancelotti, who even needs to call out Raul Asensio — an unprepared player from the second squad.
The third factor is the most debatable. Has Carlo Ancelotti lost control of the dressing room? Does he know how to embed Kylian Mbappe into his tactics? Has Toni Kroos’ retirement affected him much? These are probably the questions that only the Italian maestro could answer. At least, to one of them, there’s an answer, but it's not so evident: Kroos’ retirement made an impact. He was the second-best player in the team behind Bellingham based on SofaScore ranking (7,63) and the top assistant (8 assists in the 2023/24 La Liga season). Even the best team in the world would notice the absence of such a skillful player. So did Real Madrid. Valverde is a different player. Modric is getting old. Ceballos? Please.
In conclusion, we have a potentially brilliant team that is unbalanced, suffers from injuries, and needs time to gather everything. This means only one thing: Real Madrid is not a team capable of stopping Liverpool now. The game at Anfield (2:0) only proved this.
Germans: Bayern is the only potential threat
No one actually thinks that Bayern Munich is capable of competing against Liverpool. Borussia Dortmund is too unstable, and its squad doesn’t match Slot’s. Bayern has a so-called “post-Leicester season”: they made the fairytale, now they have to go through the hangover. We have previously discussed Bayern’s potential here.
You never know what to expect from Bayern, both in good terms and bad. After humiliating Werder (5:0), they all of a sudden were defeated at Villa Park (0:1), made everyone applaud for the victory over Stuttgart (4:0), and then were crushed by Barcelona (1:4). Looks like Harry Kane’s curse is still chasing Munich as they are now eliminated from the DFB cup after a sensational loss to Leverkusen (0:1). The worst thing is Manu Neuer’s instincts are not a guarantee of a clean sheet anymore. Moreover, nowadays, Bayern’s captain can’t guarantee he will even play the whole game.
Can Bayern compete against a big club? Sure, they can, but circumstances should favor them. They are called ‘Dembele being sent off on 56th minute’ or ‘Warren Zaire-Emery losing almost every ground duel he took part in’..
Italians and the rest have nothing to offer
Well, they can, but not against Liverpool. The world saw a proof of this statement in the first round of the league phase. But thank you Juventus for giving Guardiola his seventh loss in 10 games! Interestingly, Inter has the best defense, together with Liverpool, as they conceded only one goal after six rounds.
At the same time, Nerazzurri have the weakest attack among the top-15, with only seven goals. Their game is nice to watch when they are not under pressure, like against Verona (5:0) or Crvena Zvezda (4:0). But since the start of the 24/25 season, Inter didn’t prove themselves as a team capable of beating equal or stronger teams. Games against Leverkusen (0:1), Napoli (1:1), and Juventus (4:4) proved it.
No team matches Arne’s Slot machine stability, power, and teamwork for now. Of course, one of the reasons we all love football is its unpredictability, but in our opinion Liverpool has a great chance of winning the Champions League this season.
Real Madrid
Pachuca
Arsenal
Crystal Palace
Southampton
Liverpool
Newcastle
Brentford
Atalanta
Cezena
