The UEFA Champions League is one of the most popular and most lucrative sports media events in the world. It is a tournament for the best teams in European professional soccer. It was originally known as the European Cup (up until 1992), and it is widely considered to be the world’s most prestigious club competition.
Initially, the competition was open only to the champion clubs of European national leagues (and in some cases, two runners-up from each association). Since its revamp in 1992, the tournament has been expanded to include more teams and a group stage.
In the group phase, teams are placed into one of four pots based on their UEFA coefficient, and they play against each other twice (home and away). The winner and runner-up of each group advances to the knockout stage, which is still run in a typical double-legged manner. The teams are ranked over the two legs, and the team with the most goals—or aggregate—advances to the next round.
The defending champions, Paris Saint-Germain, are the clear favorites to win this year’s Champions League. They boast a strong attacking unit and are well-balanced across all areas of the game. However, the big question mark is whether Ousmane Dembele can recover from an injury in time to be part of the squad. PSG should be able to succeed without him, but it will be a challenge. Here are the players who could make the difference in Saturday’s final.