Predicting The Last 16 Of The Champions League 2014/15

Group C

Predicted Table: 1. Zenit St. Petersburg 2. Benfica 3. Bayer Leverkusen 4. Monaco Group C is one of the toughest to call at this stage, even after the first round of matches. Benfica have been runners-up in the Europa League final for the past two seasons and yet have struggled to make the step up to the Champions League. They have made an undefeated start to their domestic campaign and come into the tournament as one of the favourites to progress from the group. Similarly, Zenit St Petersburg have made an undefeated start to their season, winning their first seven league games. They look like a strong outfit under Andre Villas Boas and boast big name strikers such as Hulk in their ranks. After defeating Benfica 2-0 away on the opening night many pundits expect them to continue this rich vein of form and top the group. Monaco are facing a season without Radamel Falcao, James Rodriguez and Emmanuel Riviere and therefore have a severely depleted attacking line. They still have Dimitar Berbatov and earned a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in their first fixture but they will struggle in this group. As for Bayer Leverkusen their weak defence was once again called into question away at Monaco as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat. However they have made a strong start to their domestic campaign and could cause upsets in this group. Overall it is a very tight group to call but Monaco will miss the players they sold in the summer and Leverkusen will leak goals, allowing Zenit and Benfica to progress.