Group F
This one's easy. Bayern Munich astride the group like a colossus. Favourites for this group and early favourites for the UEFA Cup altogether. Look for them to be the only side to finish the group stage with 12 points from four straight wins. All the other teams will be looking for damage control in their games against the German behemoths and the only race in this group is the one for second place.
Behind Bayern I'm tempted to place Sporting Braga. Their main rivals for that spot would be England's Bolton Wanderers who they play on Match Day 1. However, the Portuguese side make up for being the away team in that game with an abundance of flair and skill. And they intend to play football, as opposed to Bolton, Nicolas Anelka apart, who seem intent on kicking and bruising opponents.Bolton barely scraped past Rabotnicki in their qualifying fixture while Braga made up for losing the away leg by hammering Hammarby in the return fixture. Since both teams will probably lose to Bayern, the other tie that should make a difference to both sides would be their respective games against ex-European Champions Red Star Belgrade.
Whereas Bolton travel to Belgrade, Braga, crucially, play the Serbian side at home.Worryingly for Bolton (and Braga), if they slip up against Red Star, they could even fall behind them into fourth place. Bolton should especially be worried as they are quite simply too bad a team to worry opponents whereas Braga have a more creative style that leads to more goalscoring oportunities. And Bolton have no manager and Anelka will almost certainly leave before long.
Sentimentally it would be great to see Red Star progress at the expense of the English team, and it they can pick up four points from the two fixtures against Bolton and Aris (whom they play away), they most certainly will.
Projected Finish: 1 Bayern. 2 Braga. 3 Red Star. 4 Bolton. 5 Aris.
Arjun Datta, in Sportingo
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