Champions League Group H Rundown
Group H: Juventus, Sevilla FC, Olympique Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb
Juventus are the first team selected into group h. Juventus are located in Torino, Italy and compete in the Serie A. In the Serie A, Juventus have been the dominant team in recent years and are continuing their form this year being first place in the league with fifteen points from six games. Although Juventus lost key player Paul Pogba to Manchester United, they still retain majority of their squad. Juventus has a defensive identity that is lead by Italian internationals Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli, and Leonardo Bonucci. New signing Gonzalo Higuain will score the goals, as he was the leading goal scorer in Serie A last season. This will be Juventus’ seventeenth season competing in the Champions League. Juventus have won the Champions League once before in 1995–1996 and have made the final of the tournament on five separate occasions. Last year, Juventus finished second in a tough group and made it to the round of sixteen. In the round of sixteen, Juventus narrowly lost to German juggernaut Bayern Müchen.
Sevilla FC are the team from pot two selected into group h. Sevilla compete in Spain where they play in the Primera División, “La Liga”.In La Liga Sevilla sit in sixth place after six games with eleven points. Sevilla’s squad features multiple players that also compete on their respective national team, giving the team a lot of experience. Luciano Vietto has been the leading goalscorer for the team this season. This will be only Sevilla’s fifth time competing in the Champions League. Despite not being in the Champions League much, Sevilla have a lot of European football success with five trophies from European tournaments. In last years tournament, Sevilla finished behind Juventus in their group and were moved into the Europa League. In the Europa League, won the tournament, handily beating their opponents along the way. They beat Liverpool 3–1 in the final of tournament.
Olympique Lyon are the next team picked into group h. Lyon compete in Ligue 1 located in France. Lyon currently sit in ninth place with ten points from seven games. Top scorer from the 2014–2015 Ligue 1 season, Alexandre Lacazette, leads the mainly French squad. This will be Lyon’s sixteenth trip to the Champions League with their best finish coming in 2009–2010. In that tournament, Lyon made it to the semifinals but lost to Bayern Müchen in that stage. Last year, Lyon made it to the group stage of the Champions League but finished last in a relatively weak group.
Dinamo Zagreb is the final team in group h. Dinamo compete in the Croatian top league the 1. HNL. Zagreb is currently in third place with twenty-two points from ten games. El Arbi Soudani, who hails from Algeria, leads the team with five goals in the league. This will be the club’s seventeenth time competing in the Champions League but have yet to make it past the group stage of the tournament. Last year, their play on the pitch was not the only thing in the newspapers for the team. Zdravko Mamic, a high-ranking official in the club, was arrested for supposed embezzlement featuring the club and transfers of players. On the pitch, Zageb was poor in the Champions League as they only won one game in their group and finished fourth.
Juventus has played previous games against every other team in their group. Against Sevilla, the team played in the 2015–2016 Champions League group stage where Juventus won a game and lost a game. Juventus played against Lyon in the Europa League quarterfinal in 2013–2014. Juventus won both matches and advanced to the semifinals. Against Dinamo Zagreb, Juventus lost both of their games in the 1966–1967 Europa League quarterfinals. Sevilla has not played against Dinamo or Lyon. Lyon and Dinamo have played two matches against each other in the 2011–2012 Champions League group stage. Lyon dominated Zagreb winning both games and outscoring them 9–1.
