Champions League 2022-23 draw: group stage analysis and predictions

After Liverpool’s indifferent start to the season, the Champions League offers little respite. With Erik ten Hag departed after five seasons that yielded a number of notable European results, Ajax are something of an unknown quantity under Alfred Schreuder, who managed Hoffenheim and was an assistant at Ajax and Barcelona before overseeing the end of last season at Club Brugge. He plays the familiar high-pressing Ajax style of football, but has to deal with the exodus of Lisandro Martínez, André Onana, Sébastien Haller, Noussair Mazraoui and Ryan Gravenberch, with Antony perhaps soon to join them. Napoli, buoyed by the Georgian wonderkid Khvicha Kvaratskhelia , always represents a difficult trip, and the atmosphere at Rangers, back in the group stages after 12 years, is unlikely to be any less fervent.

Predicted order: 1 Liverpool 2 Napoli 3 Ajax 4 Rangers

What Group B lacks in star power it makes up for in intrigue. Sérgio Conçeiçao’s Porto have become habitually awkward opponents in recent years, eliminating Juventus the season before last. There’s been the usual summer flux at the Portuguese champions, with six players departing, among them Fábio Vieira to Arsenal, and four players arriving, but domestic form has so far been unaffected, with three wins out of three in the league. For Atlético, the story is a familiar one of whether Diego Simeone can evolve to a more progressive style, with financial pressures beginning to bite. Bayer Leverkusen finished third in the Bundesliga and have largely kept that side together but this campaign has begun with four straight defeats. Club Brugge are Belgian champions, but with Carl Hoefkens replacing Schreuder as coach, this feels like a season of transition.

Predicted order: 1 P