Julien Laurens:<\/b><\/p>\n
I have picked five players to watch in this year’s Champions League. The first is Jude Bellingham<\/b>. This is a very big season for him individually and collectively for Real Madrid under Mourinho in the number 10 role that I think suits him well. After a very good World Cup, I think that momentum will carry. I expect him to score a lot of goals and to be very strong and be decisive.<\/p>\n
Como’s number 10 Nico Paz<\/b> is at the heart of everything they do with the ball. It’s their first time in the Champions League. Cesc Fabregas is the manager, so they’re a very entertaining team, nice to watch. Paz is a special player – very much in the making – but he will be a top player very soon.<\/p>\n
Mr Champions League – Khvicha Kvaratskhelia<\/b>. In the past two seasons, he’s been incredible at PSG, especially last year on that left wing where he can cut inside or go on the outside, he’s a threat with the right foot and the left foot, he scored some great goals, he’s really good technically. I think he’s in the running for the Ballon d’Or. He’s one of those players that gets you on the edge of your sofa. He’s the guy. <\/p>\n
Lens are back in the Champions League having pushed PSG all the way last year in Ligue 1 – and Ismaelo Ganiou <\/b>is arguably their best player. A strong centre-back, 21 years old, good on the ball, very quick and physical. I expect him to leave at the end of the season for a big Premier League club.<\/p>\n
Since leaving Aston Villa to go to Roma, Donyell Malen<\/b> has been incredible, scoring almost a goal per game as a lone striker for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side. Roma being back in the Champions League is great and they’re a very entertaining team to watch again. I think we will see Malen back to his best level.<\/p>\n
Guillem Balague:<\/b><\/p>\n
Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane<\/b> is in a campaign to win the Ballon d’Or. He deserves to be in contention and I do not expect him to drop his level as Bayern’s style suits him greatly.<\/p>\n
Teenager Lamine Yamal <\/b>is hungry for more and has set his sights on the Champions League. Hansi Flick wants a team that defends high and passionately so he can shine.<\/p>\n
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia<\/b> has got another level and with PSG going far he will again rescue the team and win big games. He will be a Ballon d’Or winner soon.<\/p>\n
Shakhtar have a long tradition of converting Brazilian stars into European multimillion transfers and 20-year-old Kaua Elias<\/b> could be the next one on the list.<\/p>\n
After a difficult season for Martin Odegaard <\/b>last year with injuries, he has started this one very well. The Norwegian can dominate games, and his team – more confident now – will need him to do that. He seems ready to take that leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julien Laurens: I have picked five players to watch in this year’s Champions League. The first is Jude…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1192337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1192336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1192336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1192337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1192336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1192336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1192336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}