The third match day of the Champions League is coming back this week and what better way to spend a Tuesday and Wednesday morning watching soccer on a 60″ T.V. with a beer on one hand and a burger on the other. The biggest teams of Europe, from every league and country, meet up and play each other to see who is the best team of Europe. This year’s UEFA has been filled with shocking results and teams we’ve never heard of playing against the biggest names of Spain, England, and Germany. This is PART 1 of this week’s predictions in the UEFA Champions League Cup. Groups E-H meet up on Tuesday and here are my predictions:
Group E:
Man City (1 pt.) vs. 
CSKA Moskva (0 pts.)
6:00 PM CET (9:00 AM PST) @ Arena Khimki, Moscow, Russia
Manchester City has been a team that seems to struggle in the Champions league, but has no trouble playing in the Premier League. Last year they made it to the Round of 16 and were kicked off by FC Barca and the previous two years have played only in the group stage. They came up with 1 point so far against AS Roma and lost to Bayern Munich in a last minute goal from Boateng. Facing CSKA Moskva, who also has struggled in the UEFA, it seems like it will be a pretty easy win for Man City.
Final Score: Manchester City 3-0 CSKA Moskva
AS Roma (4pts.) vs. 
FC Bayern (6pts.)
8:45 PM CET (11:45 AM PST) @ Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy
AS Roma has been the rising team from Italy. Coming as runner up in the Serie A league last year and fighting for this year, they seem to be having a good spell in the Champions League as well this year. With Gervinho, Totti, De Rossi, Pjanic and Strootman, this is a squad that FC Bayern will probably have trouble with as well. With a win and tie so far in the UEFA, Roma hopes to take the three points away from FC Bayern. On the other hand, Bayern comes from being champions last year’s champions league and a dramatic win against Manchester City and another against CSKA Moskva. Who knows who will take the three points?
Final Score: FC Bayern 2-1 AS Roma
Group F:
APOEL (1 pt.) vs. 
PSG (4pts.)
8:45 PM CET (11:45 AM PST) @ GSP Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus, Italy
APOEL is a team that we have seen have some success in the Champions League along with PSG. In 2012, a team that we barely knew of went to the Quarterfinals in which they lost against Real Madrid, but put a heck of a fight. So far this UEFA season, there hasn’t been much success, losing to Barcelona and tying against Ajax. PSG, on the other hand, took the win against Barcelona back in September in a stunning 3-2 win and tied against Ajax as well. With PSG having Ibrahimovic, Lavezzi, Cavani and strong defense and midfield, they will surely have no trouble against APOEL, unlike Barcelona.
Final Score: PSG 4-0 APOEL
FC Barcelona (3pts.) vs. 
Ajax (2pts.)
8:45 PM CET (11:45AM PST) @ Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
FC Barcelona has seemed to struggle so far in the Champions League. They barely won against APOEL back in September and lost against PSG 3-2 in which the defense looked very vulnerable. Ajax is a strong team from Netherlands, but struggles in the Champions league. So far they have tied with APOEL and PSG and hope to either tie with Barcelona or take the three points, but the way Barcelona has progressed since their lost against PSG, they might be able to do some damage to Ajax.
Final Score: FC Barcelona 3-1 Ajax
Group G:
Schalke (2pts.) vs. 
Sporting (1pt.)
8:45 PM CET (11:45 AM PST) @ Stadion Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Schalke has been that team that we see struggle or succeed in either the Bundesliga or Champions league. The past two years they made it as far as the Round of 16 and came on the top four of the Bundesliga. Coming off two ties against Chelsea and Maribor, it seems that Sporting Lisbon will give them a fight as well. Sporting has come off a loss against Chelsea and tie against Maribor and seems like they will be the one team to struggle in this year’s Champions League.
Final Score: Schalke 1-1 Sporting
Chelsea (4pts.) vs. 
NK Maribor (2pts.)
8:45 PM CET (11:45AM PST) @ Stamford Bridge, London, England
Chelsea has been unstoppable in the Premier League and it seems like they would want to replicate that into the Champions League. With a win against Sporting and tie against Schalke, Chelsea looks to take the three points against Maribor and continue on being group leaders. NK Maribor is another new team that we have seen in the Champions league. A small team from Slovenia that hopes to give Chelsea a good fight, but with a strong attack and midfield who knows how Maribor will stop Chelsea.
Final Score: Chelsea 3-0 NK Maribor
Group H:
BATE (3pts.) vs. 
Shakhtar Donetsk (2pts.)
8:45 PM CET (11:45AM PST) @ Borisov Arena, Borisov, Belarus
I don’t know what to really say about these two teams. BATE is a new team to me, who played in the group stage in 2011 and 2012 and Shakhtar Donetsk, has come off the group stage or the Round of 16 the past 3 years and made it all the way to the Quarterfinals in 2010. So far FC BATE has returned to winning ways in Belarus and they hope to continue that against Shakhtar, who had a 2-0 lead against Athletic Bilbao in match day 2, but gave away the lead in stoppage time. Shakhtar seems to have more success in the Champions league, even though they failed against Athletic on match day 2, but they will take the win against BATE.
Final Score: Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 BATE
Porto (4pts.) vs. 
Athletic Bilbao (1pt.)
8:45PM CET (11:45 AM PST) @ Estadio do Dragāo, Porto, Portugal
Porto started strong in the Champions League, defeating BATE 6-0 in match day 1 and tying against Shakhtar in match day 2. With 4 points in the group table, this makes them group leaders and hope to continue with that against Athletic Bilbao. Bilbao has struggled in the champions league losing against BATE and tying against Shakhtar. They also seem to struggle in La Liga now that they don’t have star Ander Herrera who left to Manchester United this past summer transfer. The last time we saw Bilbao in the Champions league was in 1989 and who knows when we will see them here again. With that being said, Porto has a chance to take Bilbao down and give Bilbao their hopes of continuing in the Champions league an early upset.
Final Score: Porto 3-1 Athletic Bilbao
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