As the first round of the UEFA Champions League comes to an end tonight. The English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga are once again dominating the competition in the number of their teams that have made it successfully to the round of 16 with Solo Mourinho's embattled Cheasea FC leading in performance for the English by topping its group with 13 points from 4 wins and 1 draw of the six matches played. Following closely is Manchester City which also tops its group with 12 points from 4 wins of the six matches played then comes Arsene Wenger's Arsenal with a narrow 9 points from 3 wins courtesy of 2 goals difference over Greek's Olympiacos.
For the La Liga is the usual trio led by Real Madrid with 15 points from 5 wins of the six games played, then comes F.C Barcelona with 14 points from 4 wins and 2 draws while Atletico Madrid holds 13 points from 4 wins and 1 draw. And all three Spanish teams top their groups.
Following closely is Germany's Bundesliga and Italy's Seria A both having two teams at the tournament which include Bayern Munich with 15 points from 5 wins and Wolfsburg with 12 points from 4 wins for the latter (both teams are at the top of their groups) while the former boasts of Juventus with 11points from 3 wins and 2 draws and Roma with 6 points from 1 Win and 3 draws. The rest leagues can unfortunately boast of just one team remaining in the tournament. They include France's Ligue 1 : Paris Saint-Germain F.C. with 13 points from 4 wins and 1 draw, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg of Russia with 15 points from 5 wins, K.A.A. Gent of Belgian Pro League with 10 points from 3 wins and 1 draw, PSV Eindhoven of Netherlands with 10 points from 3 wins and 1 draw, Portuguese' Benfica F.C with 10 points from 3 wins and 1 draw and finally from the Ukrainian Premier League FC Dynamo Kyiv with 11 points from 3 wins and 2 draws. Interestingly, of these six only Zenit of Russia are top in their group while the rest are runners up. The natural presumption from the foregoing would be to expect the winner to come from the dominating leagues. However, La Liga and Bundesliga teams have shown more superior steam so far in the competition compared to their English Premiership Counterparts who unfortunately have lost one of their giants in the competition being Manchester United who are replaced by their mancunian neighbour - Manuel Pellegrini's boys of Man-City. Perhaps the footballing authorities will have to review its league quota for this competition to reduce the palatable dominance of some leagues over others albeit how deserving. But till then let the bets proceed- which team will win this UEFA Champions' League this time around?
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