Bold 2025 Predictions: Arsenal-Atalanta UCL Final, Pulisic Stays in Milan, Wrexham Promoted
We're a week into 2025 and there are plenty of soccer storylines worth following. But what do we think will happen over the next 12 months? Luis Miguel Echegaray has some ideas.
Atalanta vs. Arsenal? The Champions League final will be a very unique one
There's no doubt that the inaugural season of the new-look Champions League has given us many surprises. Last season's champions, Real Madrid, are 20th out of the 36 teams, with only nine points to their name after six matches. Manchester City's problems are continental as well as domestic, as they find themselves in 22nd with eight points, and even though it's unlikely, it's not completely out of the question to suggest they could fail to make the knockout playoffs. In fact, their next game against Paris Saint-Germain on Jan. 22 is massive, as the French champions are 25th.
Pulisic stays with AC Milan, but Pepi heads to the Premier League
Here's something that most of us disregard when thinking about a player's future: their happiness off the pitch actually impacts what happens on it. And here, Christian Pulisic is a perfect example.
Inter Miami wins MLS Cup, Messi ponders retirement, then backtracks
Maybe it's the romantic in me, but I think this is the season in which Inter Miami CF and Lionel Messi win MLS Cup. In many ways, it has to happen because time is running out for the Argentine and the Herons. Messi, who will turn 38 in June, is under contract until the end of the 2025 season, and even though co-owner Jorge Mas fully expects that the World Cup champion will agree to an extension, we simply don't know. It's up to Messi.
Wrexham earn promotion to the Championship
If you haven't read my colleague Tom Hamilton's excellent piece from earlier in the season on the most popular club people love to love and hate, I recommend you do. The rise of Wrexham under owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney has been truly remarkable, and it's perhaps this very Hollywood-esque treatment that many other clubs in the lower divisions dislike.
Trent Alexander-Arnold leaves for Real Madrid, Kevin De Bruyne moves to San Diego
The Premier League will see a few key stars leave this summer, and this might just be the easiest prediction in this space.
Chelsea will win the Club World Cup
FIFA's reimagined version of the Club World Cup takes place this summer across the U.S., and honestly, I am not sure how some European clubs will approach it, bearing in mind that once again, it adds a mental and physical toll on players who would have just finished an arduous season in Europe. Then there's the assessment of who to take. Pep Guardiola's Man City, for example, will undoubtedly be going through a major transition while others like Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Internazionale could use it to heavily rotate or perhaps introduce young players to the first-team fold.
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