Away we go

The Champions League is nothing new for Bayern Munich. Germany's top club measures itself against the elite of Europe year in, year out, and more often than not the results are better than average.

But the 2011-12 campaign is something special, since the Champions League final is being held in Munich's home stadium. And if you think Bayern aren't dying to be there on May 19, and not as spectators, then you don't know much about club president Uli Hoeness and the people he employs

"It's a big motivation," Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, who won club football's most prestigious title with Real Madrid in 1998, told the German football magazine kicker. "When I came to Real in 1997, at the first training session in front of 100,000 fans there was only one message: we want to win the Champions League. That's contagious."

That's the sort of swagger the Bavarians have been demonstrating in their rip-roaring start to this Bundesliga campaign. And that's precisely what they'll need to get past a more-difficult-than-expected qualification group A.

On paper, Bayern's greatest challenge will be Manchester City, who have shot to the top of the English Premier League with huge cash infusions from their billionaire owners, the Abu Dhabi royal family. The new City side features a number of familiar faces, including former Bundesliga players Edin Dzeko, Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany.

Bayern's advantage in this match-up, though, is that their squad has been playing together longer and is more accustomed to handling the pressures of being a legitimate title candidate. Bayern need to keep pushing forward, exploiting the talents of Mario Gomez, Franck Ribery, Thomas Müller and Arjen Robben, while trusting that their revamped defense, barely tested in the Bundesliga, can repel the Citizens' own formidable attack.

It would be nice, but not absolutely necessary for Bayern to lay down a marker in their matches against City. The other two teams in the group Villereal and Napoli may come from the Spanish and Italian leagues respectively, but they don't have anywhere near Bayern's level of internationally proven talent.

Prediction: If Munich can balance aggression and patience against the two weaker teams in the group, they have a 85 percent chance of progressing.

Boys are back

Borussia Dortmund swept their way to the Bundesliga title last season with a young squad that swarmed all over opponents. And although this year's domestic campaign got off to a rocky start, no-holds-barred pressing is their best way through group F.

And what an easy group it is, if the word “easy” can be used at this level. Opponents Olympique Marseilles and Olympiakos Piraeus play in domestic leagues, the French and Greek first divisions respectively, that are a cut below the Bundesliga.

And Arsenal, who lost their two top midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri this summer, were clearly the weakest club in pot 1. Indeed, the Gunners were forced to go on a last-second spending spree after a disastrous domestic start, and there's no reason for Jürgen Klopp's men not to fancy their chances against the likes of Per Mertesacker in central defense.

Dortmund have arguably the most skilled individual player in the entire group, Mario Götze, who was reportedly the target of a fruitless 40 million euro ($54.6 million) transfer offer by none other than Arsenal.

And the style of football played by both clubs could favor Dortmund as well.

"It's often the case, against teams who come to play football, that we get more space and can push the ball in front of goal quickly," defender Neven Subotic told kicker.

Prediction: As long as Dortmund maintain their devil-may-care enthusiasm from the Bundesliga, they have an 75 percent chance of going through and could well win the group.

Doing the Dogfight

The third German aspirant, Leverkusen, didn't have the same sort of luck in group E. Aside from there-to-make-up-the-numbers Belgian side Genk, last season's Bundesliga runners-up drew Chelsea and Valencia.

But though the names are big, the hurdle they represent may be less sizeable. While Chelsea are still one of the top teams in England, many people are sensing that this is a squad that's past its best.

Both the Blues and Valencia are teams that tend to grind out close wins rather than blow away opponents, and that means a steady team like Leverkusen has a chance.

"It's not a gentle start," veteran captain Simon Rolfes conceded to dpa news agency. "But I'm completely convinced that we'll still be in the Champions League come the winter break."

All three of the top teams in the group are very similar. In the last domestic season and the start of this one, Leverkusen has discarded its mercurial past to become a team of surprising, if unspectacular consistency.

Assuming that 19-year-old keeper Bernd Leno is up to the pressure of one of football's biggest stages, it's hard to find any glaring weaknesses in Leverkusen's squad.

So there's reason to expect their matches against Chelsea and Valencia to be tactical affairs that could be won on luck, desire or a combination of both. And all three need to avoid dropping any potentially decisive points to Genk.

Prediction: This is going to be a three-way dogfight, and as such Leverkusen have a 67 percent chance of going through.

Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Matt Hermann