Teams hailing from “The Big Three” leagues are most likely to advance the furthest in the Champions League. However, representatives from the smaller European leagues can’t be denied, especially when you consider the consistent forays of the likes of Portugal’s FC Porto, France’s Lyon, and Holland’s PSV into the latter stages of the Europe’s premier club competition. Here are the clubs likeliest to emulate the aforementioned, taking the top spots in their respective leagues and thus qualifying for the CL in 2010/11, then shaking some shit up once they’re in (hence, no Holland or Russia in this overview).

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FRANCE (LIGUE 1)

1. Olympique de Marseille

2008/09 Ligue 1 Finish: 2nd

2009/10 Champions League participants: Yes

Midfield headcase Hatem Ben Arfa will be mad that Bordeaux’s Yoann Gourcuff took his tag of “The Next Zidane,” and should finally get his act together in order to make it to the World Cup next summer for France. Playing alongside newly acquired Argentine Lucho Gonzalez will surely help, as well as the defensive cover provided by Stephane Mbia. Adding Gabriel Heinze and Fernando Morientes now gives Marseille a look that resembles a team that can go top 8 in the CL.

2. Olympique Lyonnais

2008/09 Ligue 1 Finish: 3rd

2009/10 Champions League participants: Yes

As important as it is to replace Karim Benzema at forward, their decline over the years was their failure to replace defensive midfielders Michael Essien and then Mahamadou Diarra. Read the rest of this entry »