Group F - arguably the "Group of Death" in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage. 4 of Europe's top 5 leagues are represented, with Arsene Wenger's side being the talking point after barely qualfying for the tournament. That being said, Arsenal represent the English Premier League, Arsenal finished 4th in the league last year, marginally beating out Tottenham Hotspur for the last spot. Arsenal then defeated Fenerbache over two legs to ensure their place in the group stages. Borussia Dortmund finished 2nd in the Bundesliga last season, as Bayern Munich took the treble (Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and Champions League). A great season for Juergen Klopp's men that didn't end as well as it could have. Olympique Marseille were beaten to the Ligue 1 title last season by heavy-spenders Paris Saint Germain, led by Carlo Ancelotti and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as Marseille ended the season in 2nd place. SSC Napoli, then led by Walter Mazzarri, finished 2nd place in Serie A as Juventus (led by Antonio Conte) won the league, Napoli are now led by Rafael Benitez.
As Gameweek 1 approaches, here are the two matches:
Arsenal v Marseille (Stade Velodrome 19:45 BST):
Coming off of a controversial 3-1 win at Sunderland this past weekend, Arsenal will look to kick off their Champions League campaign with a good start as they travel to France and face last year's runner's up Marseille.
Arsenal have qualified for the group stage of the Champions League for the past 13 seasons as Arsene Wenger continues to reign as manager. It was 2006 when Arsenal were last in the Champions League Final as they fell to Barcelona 2-1.
Wenger has been under much scrutiny as of late especailly as the transfer window's close neared and Arsenal had signed nobody significant in the window and looked destined for another trophyless season. However, Wenger then pulled one of the hat as he signed German international Mesut Oezil from Real Madrid. The fans were delighted with the signing as it was arguably one of the biggest moves completed in this year's window.
Despite that signing, there are still many doubts about Arsene Wenger as many fans continue to believe that his time to go has come. However, Arsene Wenger has proven himself an incredibly adept manager at reaching the knockout stages of the competition, and Arsenal will hope to mantain their impressive record the highest level of club football. Wenger seems to "work his magic every year" as stated by an Arsenal in an interview on Sky Sports News. The Frenchmen finds his way and it's remarkable how he does it.
Entering Gameweek 1, Arsenal will be without Mikel Arteta, Santi Cazorla, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski, Abou Diaby, Yaya Sanogo and Tomas Rosicky. All of them will be unavailable due to various injuries. Olivier Giroud, who formerly played for Ligue 1 side Montepellier, is a doubt for the match after he picked up a knock at the Stadium of Light this past weekend. Giroud has four goals in four league matches, so far and definitely looks to have settled in at the Emirates.
On the other hand, there is Marseille, who have an almost completely fit and available squad. Diawara is the only absentee from the Ligue1 side as he continues to recover from his injury sustained in league play.
Last season, Elie Baup's men were quite poor in the Europa League as they failed to qualify for the knockout stages. However, now they've returned to the Champions League for the first time since the 2011 season, when they also had Arsenal in their group. That campaign, there was a 0-0 draw at the Emirates between the two sides and then a 1-0 win for Arsenal at the Velodrome as Aaron Ramsey scored a late winner to secure the points for Wenger's side.
This season, Marseille have lost 1 match in league play (1-2 loss to AS Monaco), won 3 (1-3 v Guingamp, 2-0 v Evian and 0-1 v Valenciennes) and drawn 1 (1-1 v Toulouse). They currently sit 4th in Ligue 1, just 3 points off of league leaders AS Monaco.
Dimitri Payet and Andre-Pierre Gignac have 6 goals between them in the first 5 Ligue 1 matches and they could provide a tough match-up for an Arsenal defense looking to find it's feet.
The main threats for each side will be: Aaron Ramsey, Giroud and Oezil (Arsenal) and Payet and Gignac (Marseille).
Borussia Dortmund v SSC Napoli (San Paolo, 19:45 BST):
Coming off of a 2-0 win against Atalanta, Rafael Benitez's men will look to continue their form and beat last year's runners-up Borussia Dortmund. Napoli currently have 3 wins in as many games in this year's Serie A. Napoli sit on top of Serie A after three matches and have 4 of their last 5 matches. They finished 2nd last year as Conte's Juventus lifted the Scudetto as Walter Mazzarri then left Naples for Inter Milan and Chelsea's former interim manager stepped in. Benitez has won the Champions League before, with Liverpool (2005 3-3 v Milan, LFC won on penalties), 2 years later, Benitez was back in the final, but wasn't as fortunate that time as Milan lifted the trophy thanks to Inzaghi.
Now, Benitez sets his sights on attacking football and thinks that will be the key to victory against Klopp's men. Napoli have no injury concerns leading up to the game and will hope that new signings Jose Callejon and Gonzalo Higuain get off to great starts in the Champions League after losing to Dortmund on aggregate last year in the Semi-finals with Real Madrid. Napoli will also hope that Higuain can be an ample replacement to Edinson Cavani after the Uruguayan was sold to Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint Germain, Higuain has scored twice in Napoli's three Serie A matches.
Napoli remain winless against German sides as they have lost 5 and drawn 2 of their last 7 matches to German opposition.
On the contrast, we have Juergen Klopp and his Borussia Dortmund team, who have grabbed the attention of all football fans in the past 2-3 years as they have won the DFB Pokal, Bundesliga and reached the Champions League Final. They come off of a 6-2 thrashing of Hamburger SV at Signal Iduna Park, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice as did Robert Lewandowski. Marco Reus, Lam, Westermann and Henrik Mkhitaryan also found the back of the net. Dortmund have a perfect start to their season, just like Napoli, Dortmind have won 5 Bundesliga matches in as many games. They sit on top of the Bundesliga and have yet to lose a game this season after a successful Super Cup triumph against Pep Guardiola's Bayern side.
Dortmund, however, do have injury concerns as captain Sebastian Kehl is set to miss out on the match as will Ilkay Gundogan and Lukasz Piszczek. Jakub Blaszczykowski returns to the side after being rested at the weekend.
The main threats for both sides will be: Aubameyang, Lewandowski, Reus and Mkhitaryan (Dortmund) and Hamsik, Higuain and Callejon (Napoli). All of these players have found the back of the net this season and are in great form.
