Every year, there are Champions League clubs that are usually
expected to challenge for the trophy no matter what season it
is, and no matter what kind of squad they have in one given
season compared to previous years. On the other side of the
coin, there are teams that may not necessarily be strong enough
to actually win the title as kings of Europe, but definitely have
the power to spring up a surprise or two against European
football’s biggest heavyweights. For this list, we’ll be looking
at the 10 biggest dark horse clubs during the 2014-15 UEFA
Champions League season.
Several clubs on this list have sprung up surprises on multiple
occasions in Premier League seasons past: Shakhtar Donetsk
have made it to the quarterfinals on one occasion, Atletico
Madrid are fresh off the heels of a Champions League final
appearance where they lost to their city rivals, and Porto won it
all back in 2004 under the guidance of Jose Mourinho.
Whether any such surprises can happen again is up for debate
since the Premier League season has only just gotten
underway, but history has dictated that the biggest club
tournament in Europe is hardly played on paper.
Certain clubs – for instance, Benfica and Manchester City –
could be considered dark horses because they seem to have
something to prove: the former lost in the final of the Europa
League for the second straight year and have lost a number of
their former stars to other clubs, while the latter has yet to
make an impact in Europe despite winning the Premier League
last season and boasting some of the world’s best players on
their squad. No matter the story, all 10 of these clubs can turn
heads and upset the status quo of European football’s elite.
Let’s take a look.

10. Shakhtar Donetsk
Though they’ve made headlines recently for players wanting to
leave the club due to unrest in Eastern Ukraine, Shakhtar
Donetsk have proven in the past that they can go a decent
distance in any given Champions League season. Having gone
to the quarterfinals in the 2010-11 season, they’ve got a solid
group of players to potentially carry them through this year as
well: domestic stars such as Yaroslav Rakitskiy and Taras
Stepanenko, as well as Brazilians Bernard, Douglas Costa and
Fred (among numerous other fellow countrymen at the club)
will be counted on to lead the club during this go-round.

9. Porto
Another potentially surprising team at this year’s Champions
League is Shakhtar’s Group H rivals, Porto. Having won the
trophy in 2004 while being managed by Jose Mourinho and
boasting players like Deco, Maniche and Ricardo Carvalho,
this current team doesn’t look as talented, and will see their
chemistry be dependent on how well their many new signings
gel with each other. However, captain Jackson Martinez is
quite a lethal striker, and young players like Juan Quintero,
Cristian Tello and Oliver Torres are all very promising in their
own right. In a group including Shakhtar and Athletic Bilbao,
anything’s possible after the group stage if they make it
through.

8. Manchester City
Is there a bigger anomaly in the Champions League over the
past several years than Manchester City? They’ve won two
league titles in three seasons and they lay claim to players like
Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure among
other elite squad members, but have yet to make it past the
round of 16 over the past three seasons – the first two seeing
them crash out in the group stage. With Manuel Pellegrini –
who has a reputation for his clubs performing well in the
Champions League – remaining in charge, it’ll be interesting to
see how Manchester City navigate their tough-as-nails group
that includes Bayern Munich and Roma.

7. Benfica
Quite unlucky to have lost the Europa League final two years
in a row, Portuguese giants Benfica have also had salt rubbed
into their wounds with the departures of Lazar Markovic, Jan
Oblak, and Ezequiel Garay to Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and
Zenit St. Petersburg respectively, as well as loaning out Andre
Gomes, Rodrigo and Filip Djuricic. The Eagles have been
trying to make up for it with signings such as Julio Cesar, Jonas
and Andreas Samaris, but it definitely remains to be seen how
easily they will get through their group which includes Zenit,
Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen. If they get through it, plenty is
possible.

6. Atletico Madrid
Coming off a Champions League final appearance from last
season where they fell short to crosstown rivals Real Madrid,
Atletico is surely going in for the kill this time around.
Although they’ve lost certain star players – namely Diego
Costa, Filipe Luis and Thibaut Courtois, all to Chelsea – Los
Colchoneros got many strong new signings including Mario
Mandzukic, Antoine Griezmann and Jan Oblak to fill some of
the gaps left by the aforementioned departures. In a group
featuring Juventus, the defending La Liga champions will be
ashamed not to progress from the group stage, after which the
world – or perhaps just Europe – is their oyster.

5. Borussia Dortmund
Okay, so you could argue that Borussia Dortmund are actually
a legitimate contender for the Champions League trophy as
opposed to a dark horse. However, it’s unknown how easily
Die Borussen will be able to fill the boots of their biggest
offensive weapon in Robert Lewandowski – who transferred to
Bayern Munich this summer – through Ciro Immobile, Ji Dong-
Won and Adrian Ramos. That said, the return of Nuri Sahin and
Shinji Kagawa to their ranks will be likely to help them work
their way towards what they hope will be their first Champions
League trophy since beating Juventus for it in 1997.

4. Bayer Leverkusen
This is a pretty unexpected choice for a dark horse team,
admittedly, but this Bayer Leverkusen side looks young and
exciting in a way the football world hasn’t seen from them in
quite a long time. Players like Bernd Leno, Son Heung-Min and
Hakan Calhanoglu are among Bayer’s young guns, and the
group of players the club has will make it interesting to see
how they push past a group which includes Monaco, Zenit St.
Petersburg, and Benfica. They might not be good enough to
challenge for the trophy, but they’re certainly good enough to
make a decent run in the tournament.

3. Roma
A.S. Roma had definitely seen some leaner years in the seasons
leading up to this one, but this year, they’re quite deep. Players
like Kevin Strootman, Miralem Pjanic and young Argentine
forward Juan Iturbe are just a few on their talented squad that
also includes Daniele De Rossi, Ashley Cole and their 38-year-
old captain Francesco Totti – who recently became the oldest
player to ever score in the Champions League by netting the
tying goal against Manchester City. Admittedly, they’re in
quite a tough group thanks to being drawn with City, Bayern
Munich and CSKA Moscow, but a squad as deep as theirs
should have no problem challenging for a spot in the knockout
stages.

2. Paris Saint-Germain
If any club from France is going to be the first since Marseille
to win the Champions League trophy, it’s most probably going
to be Paris Saint-Germain. Reaping the benefits of the fact that
they’ve gotten so deep and strong over the years following the
club’s purchase by Qatar Sports Investments, Les Parisiens are
going to hope that they can improve on two straight
quarterfinals appearances in a row in the Champions League.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and co. are already off to a pretty decent
start with a recent 3-2 victory in Group F over Barcelona –
their only obstacle to topping the group.

1. Liverpool
They’re dark horses to win the Champions League in the eyes
of former Manchester United great Paul Scholes thanks to how
well they can play at home at Anfield, as well as the exciting
style of play that Brendan Rodgers has instilled in the club.
He’s not wrong: this Liverpool side has returned to the
Champions League after five years away from the tournament,
and they’ve got a reputation for making noise – and winning
trophies – in seasons past. The only club that may prevent them
from winning Group B is defending champions Real Madrid,
but otherwise, expect the Reds to make quite a run after the
group stage is said and done.