The Champions League, headed by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), has a competition every season where the best teams from each European country compete for European football domination. The competition, started in 1955, has amassed large viewerships around the world, even in the United States. Plenty of students here at Marriotts Ridge have their own opinions on the Champions League.
Champions League football has been a fan favorite since its inception, averaging 400 million views for the final. This year’s final will be held in the highly anticipated Wembley stadium, in London, England. Last season’s final Manchester City vs Internazionale Milan was highly anticipated, putting up the best teams from England and Italy respectively. Many people this year predict that Manchester City may win the competition again.
“I think that Manchester City can win the Champions League again. They have the right players to do it, especially with Erling Haaland on the starting lineup, they’re looking like an unstoppable team,” freshman Nathan Gallert said.
Most people watch the Champions League to see their favorite team play in the competition. For some low level football clubs, it might take them years, or even decades to make the league. But most of the time these clubs get knocked out either in the group stage or the round of 16. But most of these low level clubs have a good amount of performance, as per the statistics. The bigger clubs also happen to be having a greater performance this season than previous ones.
“I think that Real Madrid is having the best performance out of all of the clubs in the competition. They have some of the best players, Vinicius Jr, Jude Belligham, and Toni Kroos,” Freshman Bryan Lee said.
The competition is headlined by superstars on different teams, who can make a huge difference in a game. This year, there are two players that are competing for the best player in the competition. Paris-Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, and Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane. Mbappe was the favorite for being the best player, but Kane surprised the world by contending with Mbappe for best player after he scored two goals against Italian side Lazio on March 7th.
“Mbappe is probably the best player in the competition right now. He’s scoring a lot of goals every match and is constantly proving himself every game,” sophomore Saad Khaja said.
Others think that Manchester City’s Erling Haaland is the best player in the competition. Also contending with Mbappe and Kane to be the best player, Haaland has been constantly dropping goals against teams in the competition, snatching a goal on March 7th against Danish side FC Copenhagen.
“Halland definitely. He’s dropping goals and is doing pretty good against Copenhagen. He is definitely going to score more goals in the future, and maybe even win the cup,” sophomore Surya Maroju said.
As seen with this competition, there have been many interesting games. From the group stage to the round of 16, there have been many great matches that to the excitement of fans, some are calling this the best season of Champions League football.