Football is a wonderful sport. Because it is so wonderful and refreshingly surprising. In many areas the little one can still beat the big one and even big tournaments like a football world championship are always good for a surprise, as you have seen again this year. This was not a matter of course in the Bundesliga nor in the Champions League. And even if there is still no improvement in sight in the Bundesliga, at least the Champions League could be a bit more exciting next year (even if our beloved will not be there again this year). Because there are some aspirants who are obviously ready to push the royals from Madrid from their throne. So the best conditions are to have a look at pages like openodds.com and to find the right app to place some interesting sports bets in the coming season.
Two old new challengers are on the market
Juventus Turin have been in the Champions League final twice in recent years – and both lost this time. But the Italians have obviously not given up their long-cherished dream and, despite the departure of their goalkeeper Gigi Buffon, are more determined than ever to force the win of this competition. There’s no other way to explain why they went deep in their pockets in Turin and signed a Real Madrid Christiano Ronaldo. Even if a change of the multiple world footballer this summer was no longer a big surprise for insiders and football enthusiasts – a Christiano Ronaldo would certainly not change to a club that he does not expect to be able to achieve national and international success there as well. It will be interesting to see what the new balance of power will be like in Italy when the first international matches are due.
But besides Juve, there’s another global player who’s wanted to go high several times in recent years – but always crash-landed. Paris Saint Germain is certainly one of the most expensive clubs in the world. Now they’ve also been given a very well-trained coach to lead and shape the team and make them a real title aspirant. They knew in Paris that Thomas Tuchel’s character and handling would be rather difficult when they signed him and, as you can see from the media, the players are already feeling the effects. Whether this new coach can lead the team around superstar Neymar and goalkeeper Titan Buffon to the highest European honours remains to be seen.
Changing of the guard? Maybe a word too big after all
Real Madrid have won the Champions League three times in a row – no club in the history of this competition has managed to do so (not least because the WSV have never played). It seems premature to speak of a threatening change of guard at Europe’s top. On the other hand, it must also be said that after such an era many clubs suddenly sang and were driven from the top without sound. That’s what happened to Bayern after their triumph over BVB in the Champions League Final, after having reached the CL Final three times in four years. Even though Pep Guardiola, one of the world’s best coaches, has certainly been on the sidelines (or struggling) since then, it hasn’t been enough for the big throw since then. That’s how it was for Barca when Guardiola left the club and they suddenly fell back from the top of Europe to the second row and haven’t really recovered yet. It will be interesting to see where the Madrilenians are coming from this season. But at least it seems realistic that Christiano Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane can only go downhill in year 1.
