Champions League Group F Rundown
Group F: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting CP, Legia Warszawa
Real Madrid are the first team selected into group f. Real play in the Primera División, also called “La Liga”, which is located in Spain. Madird sit in first place after five matches with thirteen points from those games. Real Madrid have been one of the top teams in the world for as long as there has been European football. Their current team features stars like; Gareth Bale, Christiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modrić and many more. French great Zinédine Zidane manages the team; this is his first full year as a manager. This will be Real’s twenty-first time in the Champions League, they have qualified for every tournament since 1995–1996. They have won the tournament five times, with two trophies coming in the last three years. Madrid won last year’s tournament against Atlético Madrid in thrilling fashion. The game was tied 1–1 and the match went to overtime and eventually, penalties. Real Madrid won 5–3 on penalty kicks, making for a spectacular final.
Borussia Dortmund are the nest team in group f. Dortmund compete in the German Bundesliga where they are currently in third place with nine points from four games. In their four games, Dortumund have outscored their opponents by a surprising amount of 13 to 3. Four goals have come from star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and along with returning player Mario Götze, Dortmund hopes to continue outscoring opponents in the Champions League. This tournament will be Dortmund’s twelfth time in the Champions League. They have won the tournament once before in 1996–1997 against Italian side Juventus. After a disappointing season in 2014–2015, Dortmund were placed into the Europa League for 2015–2016 where they made it to the quarterfinal stage but they lost to runner-up Liverpool.
Sporting CP is the third team picked into group f. Sporting compete in Portugal where they play in the top division, the Primeira Liga. They sit behind Benfica in second place after five games, holding twelve points. Sporting lost key player Islam Slimani to Premier League club Leicester City and will now look to new signing Bas Dost to score the goals. Costa Rican duo Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz will look to recover their form from the 2014 World Cup when they helped take Costa Rica out of a tough group into the knockout stages. Sporting have made the Champions League ten times before and have made it as far as the round of sixteen in 2008–2009. Last year Sporting fell to CSKA Moskva in the third qualifying round and were moved into the Europa League. In the Europa League Sporting made it to the round of thirty-two and lost in that stage to Bayer Leverkusen.
Legia Warszawa is the final team competing in group f. Legia compete in the Polish top league named Ekstraklasa where they are tied for eleventh after nine matches with as many points as games played. Key Polish players Michał Pazdan and Tomasz Jodłowiec will hope to lead the team to success with their experience. This is Legia’s sixth time competing in the tournament with their best finish coming in 1995–1996 where they made it to the quarterfinals but fell to Greek club Panathinaikos. Legia have made headlines in recent season but not for the right reasons. In 2014 Legia beat Celtic in a Champions League qualifying round but were forced to forfeit the result because the team fielded an ineligible player. In last years Europa League multiple fans were arrested because of violence against Napoli fans. In that tournament, Legia finished last in their group.
Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund have met on many different occasions in European football. In total the two teams have played ten games against each other, all taking place in the Champions League. The record stands with four Real wins, three Dortmund wins, and three ties. The most recent meeting came in 2013–2014 in the quarterfinals where Real won on an aggregate score of 3–2 on their way to winning the whole tournament that year. Real Madrid has also played four previous matches against Sporting CP, two in the Champions League and two in the Europa League. The score stands with two Real wins, one tie, and one Sporting win. Sporting CP have also played against Legia Warszawa twice in the Europa League. Sporting won one of the matches and they tied the other match. This group has two top teams and two lower teams. Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund have had much European success in the Champions League and will most likely qualify out of this group while Sprting CP and Legia Warszawa have not had much success and have done well by even making it to the group stage of the Champions League.
