Julien Laurens:<\/p>\n
I have picked five players to watch in this year’s Champions League. The first is Jude Bellingham. This is a very big season for him individually and collectively for Real Madrid under Mourinho in the number 10 role that I think suits him well. After a very good World Cup, I think that momentum will carry. I expect him to score a lot of goals and to be very strong and be decisive.<\/p>\n
Como’s number 10 Nico Paz is at the heart of everything they do with the ball. It’s their first time in the Champions League. Cesc Fabregas is the manager, so they’re a very entertaining team, nice to watch. Paz is a special player – very much in the making – but he will be a top player very soon.<\/p>\n
Mr Champions League – Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. In the past two seasons, he’s been incredible at PSG, especially last year on that left wing where he can cut inside or go on the outside, he’s a threat with the right foot and the left foot, he scored some great goals, he’s really good technically. I think he’s in the running for the Ballon d’Or. He’s one of those players that gets you on the edge of your sofa. He’s the guy. <\/p>\n
Lens are back in the Champions League having pushed PSG all the way last year in Ligue 1 – and Ismaelo Ganiou is arguably their best player. A strong centre-back, 21 years old, good on the ball, very quick and physical. I expect him to leave at the end of the season for a big Premier League club.<\/p>\n
Since leaving Aston Villa to go to Roma, Donyell Malen has been incredible, scoring almost a goal per game as a lone striker for Gian Piero Gasperini’s side. Roma being back in the Champions League is great and they’re a very entertaining team to watch again. I think we will see Malen back to his best level.<\/p>\n
Guillem Balague:<\/p>\n
Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane is in a campaign to win the Ballon d’Or. He deserves to be in contention and I do not expect him to drop his level as Bayern’s style suits him greatly.<\/p>\n
Teenager Lamine Yamal is hungry for more and has set his sights on the Champions League. Hansi Flick wants a team that defends high and passionately so he can shine.<\/p>\n
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has got another level and with PSG going far he will again rescue the team and win big games. He will be a Ballon d’Or winner soon.<\/p>\n
Shakhtar have a long tradition of converting Brazilian stars into European multimillion transfers and 20-year-old Kaua Elias could be the next one on the list.<\/p>\n
After a difficult season for Martin Odegaard last year with injuries, he has started this one very well. The Norwegian can dominate games, and his team – more confident now – will need him to do that. He seems ready to take that leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julien Laurens: I have picked five players to watch in this year’s Champions League. The first is Jude…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-617627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}